Standing Orders are a set of rules that provide formal guides about the way that a Council conducts its meetings.

They also record the Council's agreed principles of behaviour within meetings.

Using Standing Orders helps to promote teamwork by:

• Allowing structured discussion of topics
• Ensuring respect for the opinions of others
• Ensuring tact and appropriate language is used to resolve conflict
• Promoting the use of persuasion and influencing skills to gain consensus

All councils are required by the Local Government Act 2002 to adopt a set of standing orders that control the way the Council's meetings are conducted. Elected members must abide by the Standing Orders adopted by the Council.

Whakatāne District Council Standing Orders - (PDF, 1.74 MB)