PUBLIC participation will be unlimited and encouraged at future Weymouth Town Council meetings.

The former borough council used to restrict public speakers to three minutes and only during a short slot at the start of meetings.

Now for six months the new town council will not put a time limit on public participation and will allow speakers to express their views at the point items are under discussion on the agenda.

Once the experimental period is over the success, or otherwise, will be assessed with recommendations for the future.

The move was approved at the first council meeting.

Cllr Kate Wheller (Lab) welcomed the move, but warned that unless the chairman was strict, there could be a down side.

She said on contentious items it would be possible to see meetings going on for three, four or even more hours.

Cllr Howard Legg (Lib Dem) said it would be in the interests of those want to speak to keep what they had to say short and to the point, or risk losing the access to councillors at the time of the review.

Fellow Lib Dem Christine James told the meeting: “ We (borough council) have been criticised in the past for not being open. We should try it for six months, but the chairman will need to be strong. We should show the public we are starting on a new foot....the public come here to speak and we are here to listen, I'm sure we all have enough common sense to make it happen.”

The council will also look at the layout of the council chamber which currently results in about a quarter of the council having their backs to the public.

Now retired local journalist Harry Walton, who has spent many years reporting on local councils, including at times when unrestricted public speaking was allowed, says the experiment might soon result in unwieldy meetings: "Experience has shown that some meetings can drag on for hours without the three-minute rule restricting how long members of the public can speak. I realise the proposed change to unrestricted public speaking includes a measure which says "at the chairman's discretion" so a chairman can end long-winded or repetitious public speaking but I still feel committee and full council meetings could become unwieldy. At least it is only for a six-month trial period....after which councillors may wish to return to the three-minute restriction on public speaking."