Question

Would any decision made by a council of only 4 councillors illegal?

Answer 1

How many seats are there on the council.

How many of those are occupied / vacant.

Comments

At the time decisions were being made, which are questionable, the council had only 4 members. It had been acting with only 4 members for some time.

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The legitimacy of the number of Cllrs required CAN ONLY be determined when you tell us how many seats there are and how many have sitting Cllrs.

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Thx. Where can I go to find out the maximum?

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The maximum is 7. I’ve been informed.

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As Dave pointed out recently....

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/70/schedule/12/paragraph/12

Subject to paragraph 45 below, no business shall be transacted at a meeting of a parish council unless at least one-third of the whole number of members of the council are present at the meeting; but, notwithstanding anything in that paragraph, in no case shall the quorum be less than three.

If you have a total number of seats (7) and 4 attend a meeting, I assess that as being a valid and quorate meeting (7/3 equals 2.3 - so 3 - you have 4 ✔️  Happy to be corrected....

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As my maths teacher used to say, one mark for the correct answer and another one for showing how you got there!

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Thanks for the confirmation and explanation.