WEYMOUTH town council has proposed a move to use more gender-neutral language in referring to councillors and council officers.

The word "chairman" has been updated to "chairperson" in the written rules of the council and language referring to the chairperson as "he", "him" and "his" has been changed to "they", "them" and "their".

At a meeting of the town council's finance and government committee on Wednesday, February 7, members voted to approve recommendations to update the council's standing orders.

Standing orders are the written rules of a local Council, they are essential to regulate the proceedings of a meeting.

Councillors and council staff must ensure they are followed and complied with at all times.

The standing orders have been adjusted so that the word "chairperson" is now used instead of "chairman"

Where this relates to the Chairperson of the Council this is the Mayor.

The Chairperson of Weymouth Town Council is entitled to be called the Mayor of Weymouth.

The term Proper Officer is used in these Standing Orders. This relates to the person holding the office of Town Clerk, or an officer duly delegated to fill this role.

The terms “he”, “his”, and “him” have also been replaced with the terms “they”, “their”, and “them”.

Cllr Luke Wakeling said: "We have removed references to 'him' the chairman from it and made it say chairperson because we are in the 21st century."

Cllr Hope said: "I am pleased to see that the removal of referring everyone to be a bloke is being changed.

"I emailed the town clerk and the chair of the governance group about this on February 22, 2023.

"That is my only disappointment that something as simple as that has taken twelve months to change.

"I am pleased it is there now and that our standing orders now will be the correct way going forward."

The recommendations made were unanimously approved by members of the committee.