The District Council has established six local forums. These are:-
- Bourne
- Grantham
- Rural North
- Rural South
- Stamford
- The Deepings
Formerly known as local area assemblies (LAAs), they were redesignated local forums in June 2006. There is now greater emphasis on involving the public than there had been with the LAAs, this is in reponse to public demand and operational experience. Local forum meetings will generally commence at 7.00pm and be limited to two hours wherever possible, although the chairman will have discretion to extend the meeting if necessary. There will be presentations but these will be limited to a maximum of three per meeting, preferably two, on topics relevant to the area. Thre will be a question and answer session after each presentation.
There is a public open forum at the start of each meeting of up to one hour. Members of the oublic can speak at this open forum for no more than three minutes on any topic relevant to the forum.
Forum membership consists of all county and district councils within the forum area. Each town and parish council has one representative on the forum. Tenants compacts are also members as of right, and have one member per forum. The Council is also keen to engage with hard to reach groups, such as minority ethnic groups and disabled persons. Each forum may co-opt up to five additional members, anyone wishing to become a co-opted member should contact Paul Morrison at SKDC ( p.morrison@southkesteven.gov.uk) Examples of co-opted members include representatives of minority groups, business interests and local clubs and associations.
Meetings are held 2-3 times a year, the dates of forthcoming meetings can be found elsewhere on these web pages.