Chairman knows the agenda has not been correctly displayed

Question

If the chairman knows the agenda has not been displayed correctly his he entitled to not held the meeting ever if the clerk is against cancelling the meeting

Answer 1

We have a legal duty to call the meeting correctly. The rules are pretty simple - 3 clear days' notice and display in a prominent position in the Parish - and of course to summon the Councillors. To be fair we rarely get any members of the public even though we publish on facebook and put on the website.
If it's not been called correctly then meeting should not be held as any decisons can be challanged. A new meeting can be called without contention.

Comments

I agree, but the keyword here is "should". There are many reasons or circumstances for a delay in publishing an agenda. Firstly, if it happens repeatedly, it's a problem that must be addressed. If it's a ploy to reduce public involvement, that is unacceptable. But if the Clerk is unwell and unable to pin the agenda on the notice board, there might be a delay. In a previous role, I had a large noticeboard in an exposed location and it was unsafe for me to open it in windy conditions.

Cancelling the meeting and rearranging can be complicated, as the dates are set for a whole year. We struggle to book meeting space in busy community centres and need to coordinate diaries with our district and county councillors, who attend our meetings. Planning response deadlines or other consultations may be missed through the cancellation of a meeting. A delay in publishing on a website is harder to justify.

This is a key responsibility for clerks and one that must be taken seriously.

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Hi what I want toknow is can the chair cancel the meeting if the clerk won’t and does the chair cancel the meeting on the night of the meeting

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I seem to remember we've looked at this one before. The legislation states that a failure to issue an agenda to a member of the council doesn't invalidate proceedings. There is no equivalent explicit provision for the general public. Whilst the chairman has the right not to attend the meeting, unless somebody can point me towards something I've missed, I don't think he can cancel the meeting. In an ideal world, the chair and the clerk would sit down and sort this out together. The chair may wish to advise the other members of the council not to attend the meeting if there is evidence that it has not been advertised in accordance with the regulations, but it would be for each of them to decide whether or not to attend.

On the subject of timing, it is never a good idea to cancel a meeting on the night of the meeting. It wastes everybody's time. I always check that my meetings will be quorate on the morning of the meeting, to allow me time to advise everybody of a cancellation. The only time this hasn't worked for me was when a monarch chose to pass away later in the day!

The Local Government Act lists or implies many things we cannot or should not do, but for all but a few, there are no sanctions for ignoring the rules.

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Ruling on notices.   The chair must be satisfied that the meeting is lawfully, if a complaints are made he must give a ruling based upon the justice of the matter a meeting is not necessarily illegal because someone has not received a notice to which he is entitled, but where an irregularities appears to be intentional or important the meeting should be adjourned until is has been corrected.  This is in our policy on chairmanship

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That's interesting. Is that based on a model document from a recognised body or something drafted by your council?

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It is our policy on chairmanship we take advice from nalc on policies      I will find out more tomorrow if it is a nalc policy and let you know

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Hi having now spoken to the clerk it is our policy which has been pass by the full council put the wordings are taken from standing orders