AGENDAS & REPORTS

Agenda for meetings of the Parton Parish Council and its committees and or working groups should be circulated and made available to the public a minimum of 3 clear days before the day of the meeting. Current best practice is distribution 5 or 7 clear days before the meeting. A clear day does not include the day of the notice or the day of the meeting and excludes weekends and bank holidays.

The content of an agenda must reflect any requirements of the Council’s Standing Orders which may include specific items and the order in which they are to be considered.

The agenda has the name of Parton Parish Council at the top, using the style and format that the council has previously agreed to use.

Agendas for committee/working group meetings usefully will include a list of the members of the committee, identifying the Chair and deputy Chair.

Some spare copies of the agenda are always available for the public attending meetings. Agenda items are numbered consecutively for ease of reference.

Agenda Management

Procedural items

The agenda for meetings can often be divided between procedural items and business items and it is helpful to identify this on the agenda. Procedural items will normally include:

Disclosures of Interests
The Agenda should include a standard item with a note or explanation along the following lines: “To receive disclosures of personal and prejudicial interests from Councillors on matters to be considered at the meeting.The disclosure must include the nature of the interest. If you become aware, during the course of a meeting, of an interest that has not been disclosed under this item you must immediately disclose it. You may remain in the meeting and take part fully in discussion and voting unless the interest is prejudicial.A personal interest is prejudicial if a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard it as so significant that it is likely to prejudice your judgement of the public interest and it relates to a financial or regulatory matter.”. Any Councillor with a pecuniary interest must then leave the room immediately and not take part in the council’s discussion, or vote, or observe the vote.
Minutes
“To resolve that the minutes of the meeting of the Council/committee held on the (date) (circulated to members or attached) be signed as a correct record.”
Apologies for absence
Chair’s announcements We try to limit this to formal civic announcements, not matters that are or should be on the agenda for debate and decision

Subject to the Council’s Standing Orders, custom or practice, there may be other procedural items, by way of receiving information that are not to be the subject of discussion or debate at the meeting. For example:

Public questions, comments or representations The council has arrangements for hearing members of the public. This is called Public Participation and must be for agenda items only. There is no discussion at this point other than to listen and record the questions from the member of the public. Such questions must be directed towards the Chair.
Appointment of members to committees It may be necessary to change the membership of a committee during the course of a year in the event of a resignation or other reason.

Business Items

Business items on the agenda will be determined by the activities of the council or the terms of reference of a committee and its functions. Some items will recur from a previous agenda.

A written report from our Clerk or the responsible Councillor may be required, in which case the agenda item should refer to the report by its title and the report should show the agenda item number clearly at the top for identification. This allows all Parton Councillors to be fully informed prior to the meeting so that discussion and decisions can be made.

The Clerk will normally devise a draft agenda and it should be prepared in advance of the publication/despatch date and discussed with the Chair. The Chair has responsibility for the proper conduct of the meeting and needs to be involved in planning the meeting. The order of business items is important.