SPEAKERS at planning committee meetings could be given more time to air their views.

Anyone wishing to speak in support or opposition of a planning application currently has two minutes to address councillors. But during last week's meeting held at Bury Town Hall, members voted to increase the time to three minutes per person. They also agreed that councillors who are not members of the committee should be restricted to the same length of time.

However, they did not support a proposal to allow more than one person to speak on each application.

The matter has now been passed to the council's standards committee for further consideration and could be trialled until the end of the municipal year.