Residents who want to give their views on an item on a West Lancashire Borough Council agenda are being reminded they have that chance.

People living in West Lancashire have the chance to speak on certain agenda items at Council meetings where important decisions are made that affect people across the borough.

In addition to longstanding arrangements already in place for speaking at Planning and Licensing Committees, there are also opportunities to speak on items being considered at meetings of Cabinet, Audit & Governance Committee, Standards Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Forthcoming meetings are Cabinet on Tuesday 7 November at 7pm, and Executive Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Thursday 23 November at 7pm - agendas for these meetings will be published on the Council’s website www.westlancs.gov.uk in the week preceding the meeting. For example the agenda for the November Cabinet meeting will be published on Monday 30 October.

To request to speak, members of the public must contact Member Services with their request by 5pm on the Thursday of the week preceding the meeting. For example a request to speak at November Cabinet must reach us by 5pm on Thursday 2 November.

The request can be submitted by email to member.services@westlancs.gov.uk or by sending it to: Member Services, West Lancashire Borough Council, 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk, West Lancashire, L39 2DF, and full details of the arrangements are provided in the Council’s Public Speaking Protocol which can be found at www.westlancs.gov.uk/speak.

Agendas and dates of future meetings can be found here: www.westlancs.gov.uk and clicking on the link to Council meetings and agendas in the 'About the Council' section on the homepage.

Councillor Ian Moran, Leader of the Borough Council, said: “The Council provides services for people living and working in the borough and the opinions of local people about those services are really important to us.

"So please take a look at the agendas for these meetings when they are online and let the Council know if you want to come and speak on any of the items listed.”