Council generally meets every Tuesday evening at 6:00pm in the Council Chamber, Newcastle City Hall.

Different types of meetings

There are three different types of Council meetings:

• Development Application Committee Meetings
• Strategic Policy Meetings
• Ordinary Council Meetings.

Meeting for dates 2008

Council meetings in 2008 start on 29 January 2007 with the first meeting (Development Application Committee Meeting).

Schedule of meetings 2008 (31kb pdf).

Meeting agendas

You can read the agenda for the next Council meeting here or you can get a copy of the agenda and business papers at the meeting itself.

Who can attend?

Members of the public and the media are welcome at:

• Any Council meeting
• Any meeting of Council committees where all members of the committee are Councillors.

Closed meetings

Occasionally Council may decide to close a part of a meeting. A meeting can be closed for reasons spelt out in the Local Government Act and include:

• Privacy
• Commercial activities
• Receiving legal advice.

You can address Council about the reasons for closing or opening a meeting and Council has to consider this input in their determination.

How are Council meetings conducted?

Council meetings must be conducted with good manners and procedural fairness so that proper debate and decision making can take place.

Newcastle City Council has two ways of ensuring this occurs:

• Council has adopted a Code of Meeting Practice (195kb pdf) which specifies the rules of Council meetings and meetings of Council Committees
• Council has also developed some Behaviors required for affective interaction (35kb pdf). These were developed by the Councillors at a strategic planning workshop held in July 2004. Each Councillor has a card which sits at their place on the table in the Council Chambers.

Council quorum

A Council meeting can proceed when a quorum of Councillors is present at the meeting place. A quorum is the majority of Councillors (except any who may be suspended from office).

Chairing a Council meeting

The Lord Mayor is automatically the chairperson of a Council meeting or meeting of a Council Committee.

In the Lord Mayor's absence, the Deputy Lord Mayor chairs the meeting. In some cases an election may be held to choose the chairperson.

The role of the Chairperson is important and includes:

• Keeping order at the meeting
• Keeping discussions to the point
• Deciding on points of order which might be raised by Councillors
• Putting proposed motions and amendments
• Ensuring the agenda is followed.

Voting at Council

Each Councillor has one vote at a Council meeting. The Chairperson has a casting vote if the number of votes for each side of the debate are equal.