Annual Parish Meeting

Updated on

Regulations covering the Annual Parish Meeting

Requirement
Every English parish must have a parish meeting, which consists of the local government electors registered for the area for which it is held.
Chair
In addition, if there is a parish council its chairman may attend and if he is present he must preside.
Dates
The parish meeting must assemble annually between 1 March and 1 June (both inclusive). Proceedings must not begin before six o’clock in the evening.
Who convenes
A parish meeting may be convened by the chairman of the parish council or any two parish councillors or by six electors for the area for which it is to held. The parish council may also convene it but is under no obligation to do so unless its consent is required before the parish council does certain acts.
How convened
Notices specifying the time and place and business of an intended meeting and signed by the conveners must be affixed in some conspicuous place or places in the parish and, in addition, the conveners may give such publicity to the meeting as seems desirable. Ordinarily the minimum notice required is seven days.
Quorum
The quorum of a parish meeting is two unless a document has to be executed, in which case it is three.
Decisions
Decisions are taken in the first instance by a majority of those present and voting.
Legal status
Though the parish meeting may discuss parish affairs its resolutions differ in their legal consequence. In a few cases a resolution is legally binding. In all others a resolution is persuasive only; the Parish Council may legally disregard it and leave the electors to their remedy at the next election.

See Arnold-Baker

David Drake, Clerk, Compton & Shawford Parish Council
PO BOX 565, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 3HG
Phone: 01962 600198
email:

Note: Arnold-Baker: Local Council Administration is a complete statement of the law relating to parish and community councils, in the form of an extensive though succinct narrative accompanied by comprehensive statutory materials.

At the time of writing, it is in its Eleventh edition (published 25 September 2018). The latest updates include

  • coverage of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, in relation to public spaces protection orders and the control of dogs,
  • the General Data Protection Regulation and
  • the Data Protection Act 2018.

Last updated: 2019-04-30 12:04:33