Is there an authority who can challenge a parish council for (I think, inappropriately) excluding the press and public?

Question

I wondered if anybody could advise whether there is a way to challenge the exclusion of the press and public from a parish council meeting in the event that the reason given is believed to be invalid in the context of the requirements of the law.  

ie, is there any authority who can say to a parish council  “The reason you have given for excluding the press and public is invalid"?

Many thanks

Answer 1

Yes, absolutely there is / are.
The quickest, easiest, most direct means is to simply not leave the room on the basis that iyou believe it is unlawful for you to required to do so.
This will force the issue, cause Cllrs to question why they voted to support the motion to exclude and it will immediately raise the profile of your concern to a broader audience
What will this achieve? Well, either Cllrs will not support the vote to exclude or they will maintain their position and you will be asked to leave.  If you still refuse to leave the meeting will have to be paused until a constable arrives and arrests you to prevent a breach of the peace.  All of this is invaluable exposure of what you believe to be inappropriate use of exclusion by your PC.

So the simple answer is - just say no and see what happens next.

You can also try a code of conduct complaint against each Cllr that proposes / seconds / votes in favour on the basis that they are seeking to infer inappropriate disadvantage upon an individual and that they are preventing access to information to which you are lawfully entitled
Bit of a slow burner that one and variable outcomes depending on how lazy / incompetent / unresponsive your LA Monitoring Officer is….

Get your video running and just say no - then share us the link to YouTube  Come the day of the revolution comrade

Answer 2

There is no way to challenge the legality of a parish council excluding the press and public.

The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 leaves it in the hands of a parish council (and at the time it was passed, all other tiers of local government) to decided whether a matter is prejudicial to the public interest.

The law was changed later for principal councils (I seem to remember it was in 1987) where they have to determine and publish the reasons for exclusion.
That later legislation did not include parish councils who still rely on the (now out of date) 1960 legislation.

Comments

Sorry but what you say isn't entirely accurate. The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 applies to Parish and Town Councils. It states that it supersedes the1960 Legislation and adds
1A.—(1) Any person who attends a meeting of a relevant local government body for the purpose of reporting on the meeting may use any communication method, including the internet, to publish, post or otherwise share the results of the person’s reporting activities.

(2) Publication and dissemination may take place at the time of the meeting or occur after the meeting.”. Furthermore a resolution is needed in order to exclude members from such meetings.

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I'm grateful for and accept your point of clarification.

The original question  asked whether there was a lawful means of challenging the reason for excluding the press and public.

My understanding (and I'm happy to be corrected) is that the original question asked if whether the reason for exclusion can be challenged.  I believe it is in the gift of the parish council to decide when to exclude the press and public and that there is no way to challenge that in the courts.  Im not saying i agree with that - just stating how it is (unless someone else can say otherwise).

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Ah I see what you mean.  Well,  if a Council did not resolve to exclude the press or public, or the resolution just stated that members of the public will be excluded, without specifying a reason, that could be challenged under the code of conduct with regard to not acting lawfully.  The resolution must indicated if the subject matter was deemed to be confidential or exempt.   Note also that when the 2014 regulations were introduced a few errant Councils tried to eject anyone being seen to make audio or video recordings of meetings.  But going back to your point,

Answer 3

Unfortunately, unlike principal authorities, the government have failed to make legislation to subject town and parish to the scrutiny of the Local Government ombudsman.  My suggestion would be to raise the matter with the principal authority monitoring officer as a potential breach of your parish council code of conduct.  However you would have to read it to see if it includes the articles of the model code of conduct,which it isn't obliged to do.  Those who include it undertake to :

 I Act with integrity and honesty
Act Lawfully
Treat all persons fairly and with respect; and
Lead by example and act in a way that secures public confidence in the role of councillor.

In undertaking the role:

Impartially exercise responsibilities in the interests of the local community
Don't improperly seek to confer an advantage, or disadvantage, on any person
Avoid conflicts of interest
Exercise reasonable care and diligence; and
Ensure that public resources are used prudently in accordance with local authority’s requirements and in the public interest.
By excluding you from a meeting it could be argued there has been a breach of the model code of conduct in that the chair (other councillor or clerk at the meeting) has acted unlawfully and sought to confer a disadvantage on you by not allowing you to exercise your right to attend and film too maybe.
If the monitoring officer says the complaint doesn't apply or argues they don't want to get involved, you could report that MO to the local government ombudsman, who may if they agree with you acknowledge the PC acted unlawfully and advise the MO to reconsider their lack of action.

Comments

Many thanks (toRoundAgainCoxn, Graeme_r and John1706) for all your comments.  I like the idea of attending the meeting and not leaving when asked to do so.  I think this could, as a minimum, bring the issue into the open and lead to discussion which would be an unusual event.  I'll give it a go at the next opportunity!

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Make sure you are prepared.  Try to film the part of the meeting where they attempt to eject you & include a vocal narrative of the time, date and place of the meeting on it. If you are asked to leave, ask the chair on a point of order when & where the resolutuion was given to omit press & public and if which items for discussion were deemed to amount to confidential or exempt information.