Question

Is a parish council required to nominate and provide details of the location of their offices for the purposes of the relevant subsections of section 100 of the LGA 1972?

Many thanks.

Samuel

Answer 1

Were you thinking you could subvert the rules by not telling anyone where the meeting is taking place?

Of course you have to tell people where the meeting is taking place. The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 sets out what you have to tell people:

[F8public notice of the time and place of the meeting shall be given by posting it at the offices of the body (or, if the body has no offices, then in some central and conspicuous place in the area with which it is concerned) three clear days at least before the meeting or, if the meeting is convened at shorter notice, then at the time it is convened;]

[F8public notice of the time of the meeting and, if the meeting is to be open to the public, how to access the meeting, must be given by publishing it electronically at least three clear days before the meeting or, if the meeting is convened at shorter notice, then as soon as reasonably practicable;] [F9(but see subsections (4ZA) to (4ZC) for further provision in relation to notices of meetings of certain bodies in Wales)] 

Comments

I am a parishioner and not a councillor. My local PC are in the process of being reconstituted and it was my intention to visit its offices, which it has never listed, and inspect all meeting minutes since its last published meeting minutes in the summer of 2019.

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You have every right to do that.  I would write to the clerk and ask them to either send you copies or explain where you can inspect them.

You need to focus less on whether or not the council has an office, and more on your right to inspect the documents.

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You have every right to inspect the Minutes (and if there's a website, that's where you'll find them) but no absolute right to visit an office as in many cases there is no office.    If you don't have access to the website, you can ask for copies and/or access and the clerk will need to make provision for this (for example by hiring the meeting venue so that you can view the documents there).

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Most Parish Councils will not have an office. The clerk will operate from home and they will hire a room for meetings. As has been said contact the clerk for a copy of the minutes if these cannot be found on the website.

If the council does have offices then yes they should be publishing the location. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 section 19 councils are required to publish information according to a publication scheme. Location of offices is included under class 1 of the information required to be published.

Answer 2

We don't have offices, so I'm not sure how that works.