A TOWN council could controversially cut the frequency of its meetings to just once every two months… and insist that residents submit questions in advance.

Frinton and Walton Town Council, which currently meets on a three-weekly basis, could see the number of full council meetings cut from 19 each year to just six.

A report said that due to the high frequency of current meetings, agendas can often be light and it is questionable as to whether frequent meetings are a positive and necessary use of time and resources.

“Many other larger and smaller councils meet successfully as a full council on a bi-monthly basis,” it said.

But to ensure the authority can make representations in line with the district council’s planning timescales, a separate town council planning committee would be required to meet every four-weeks.

The chairman or deputy chairman would also need to approve the payment schedule for the months where no full council meeting occurs.

The council could also change its rules so that residents asking questions at meetings would have to submit them in writing in advance.

Residents can currently ask questions during a designated section of the full council meeting without prior submission, but it is now proposed questions are submitted to the clerk a week in advance – and will then be read out by the mayor.

The report said that with questions increasingly requiring additional information, the change would help to equip the mayor to provide a comprehensive answer.

It is understood that there will be strong opposition from some councillors to the changes, which is also opposed by Frinton Residents’ Association.

Hamford councillor Iris Johnson said: “If it isn’t broke, why try to fix it?”

A decision over the changes was due to take place at a meeting of the council on Thursday, but was deferred due to the small turn out of councillors.

Town mayor Ann Oxley said she wanted to give all councillors the chance to have their say – and that she would welcome representations from the public.

“We are just looking at new ideas at the moment,” she added.