Key Facts: A. Agendas and Minutes

A.     Parish council meetings are subject to statutory requirements that govern how they must be convened and conducted.  For example, sufficient notice of a meeting must be given to the public and council members alike, and a meeting can only consider items included on the agenda sent with the notice to members.  

Local Government Act, 1972 (LGA 1972), Schedule 12 Part II sets out the rules that govern meetings of parish councils.   LGA 1972, Schedule 12 paragraph 10 requires that there must be at least three clear days’ public notice of the time and place of a meeting of the full council and its agenda. The meaning of “clear days” excludes the day on which notice was issued and the day of the meeting.  A Sunday, a day of the Christmas break, a day of the Easter break, a bank holiday or a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning do not count when calculating three clear days. 

A Parish/Town Council must hold an annual meeting of the parish council in May to elect the Chair plus three other meetings as a minimum during the year but many councils, taking into account the population, amount of financial transactions and other activity in their community will hold many other council and committee meetings to plan, manage, control and approve council business. 

Notice of the time and venue of a meeting must be fixed in a conspicuous place in the parish – often a local notice board - it is highly recommended that a list of dates, times and venues of ordinary and planned committee meetings is published for the year ahead. Additionally, the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities (paragraphs 10 and 30) requires councils (with a turnover of £25,000 or less) to publish not less than three days before the meeting the agendas and supporting papers on its website.  For local councils with income or expenditure over £200,000 they are subject to the Transparency Code for larger councils.

A councillor must be summoned to attend a meeting of the full council at least three clear days (as defined above) before the meeting. The summons, signed by the Proper Officer, must include an agenda for the meeting and be served at the usual residence of the councillor. It is accepted practice for standing orders to permit electronic service of the summons and agenda at least three clear days before a meeting provided the email to councillors includes the electronic signature and title of the Proper Officer. 

Meetings will normally be held during weekdays but some may occur at weekends. Meetings of the whole council (often referred to as ‘full council’) should generally not exceed 2 hours and this is specified in NALC Model Standing Orders mindful of the effects of tiredness and stress on officers, audience and participants. The Chair of the meeting should ensure business is managed to prevent it over-running and if the meeting is likely to exceed 2 hours they should seek consent by resolution to extend the meeting usually for a specified period. If agendas for a parish/town council meeting are exceeding 2 hours consider more of the detailed work being allocated to committees, sub-committees/ working groups and the amount of delegation that can be given to committees and officers to get business done outside the meeting.

Extraordinary meetings

The Chair of the Council may decide that additional meetings may be called in accordance with Standing Orders.  The rules for these extra meetings of the Council are the same as above, except for when an extraordinary meeting has been called by two councillors (because a Chair has refused/failed to convene one within 7 days of a written request) the notice must be signed by those councillors and must specify the business to be transacted.

Committee meetings

Providing a council’s standing orders allow it, the law only requires notice to be given at the time a committee meeting is called – in other words it is possible to hold a committee meeting the same day a need is identified, providing notice is given at that time.

 

Sub-committees are not required by law to be held in public, but it is recommended that they are and that the same notice is given as for committees. This would not apply where the public would be excluded for the entire agenda, for example for a staffing sub-committee to carry out interviews or an appraisal.  

Agenda items
A good practice agenda template is provided in Document Templates.  Items on the agenda should be clear so councillors know what they are expected to note, consider, and vote on.  Single/ two word agenda items such as 'Budget', 'Finance', 'Confidential item', 'bench', 'spending' do not explain adequately what the agenda item is about.  Best practice would be to show agenda items as follows; 'To consider and approve the items of expenditure to be authorised and paid at this meeting', 'To receive a verbal report about the state of the benches and to consider and approve a budget for materials and maintenance to be undertaken', and 'To approve exclusion of the press and public from the meeting pursuant to Section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 to discuss confidential matters relating to employees'.

The best agenda items will make it clear the purpose of the item, which legislative duty or power is applicable, and that appropriate information or reports has been circulated well in time for councillors to read and consider prior to the meeting. 

Agenda items that are clear allow councillors to be able to identify when they may have an interest to declare.