Is a member of the public appointed to a Parish Council Sub-Committee bound by the attendance regulations (Section 85)

Question

Does Section 85 of the 1972 Act apply to non-councillors appointed to a Parish council sub-committee.

According to the wording of the act this appears to cover only 'Members of a Local Authority' which a member of the public is not of course.

85Vacation of office by failure to attend meetings.

(1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, if a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority, he shall, unless the failure was due to some reason approved by the authority before the expiry of that period, cease to be a member of the authority.

(2)Attendance as a member at a meeting of any committee or sub-committee of the authority, or at a meeting of any joint committee, joint board or other body by whom for the time being any of the functions of the authority are being discharged, or who were appointed to advise the authority on any matter relating to the discharge of their functions, and attendance as representative of the authority at a meeting of any body of persons, shall be deemed for the purposes of subsection (1) above to be attendance at a meeting of the authority.

Answer 1

No they are not bound by the attendance requirement.

Comments

I don't disagree with Mrs Abster but I think 'the other side of the coin' is that membership can be cancelled by the parent council.

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I agree that section 85 doesn't apply as they're not councillors but terms of reference for the sub committee should include a clause enabling the council to add or remove members of the public if it so wishes and could include a statement to the effect that it will do so after a period of persistent absence for example.