Is this Extra Ordinary meeting acceptable practice?

Question

A summons to an extra ordinary meeting has been sent to Councillors four days before the intended meeting. Three items only on the Agenda - Apologies for absence; Trees; and Any other business. No supporting papers have been made available, so councillors have little prior knowledge of the issues.

Is it reasonable to expect parish councillors to make decisions on this basis?

Answer 1

No.

A lawful council meeting must be preceded by three clear days notice. That is, neither the day of the notice, nor the day of the meeting count, and neither do Sundays or Public Holidays. So that's the start.

Then the agenda must state with reasonable clarity what decision(s) the council intends to consider. "Trees" does not give anyone adequate information about a possible decision.

Most councils have discontinued "Any other business" since it gives the misleading impression that the council can make decisions without prior notice, and perhaps encourages such things to happen, albeit unlawfully. An alternative is something like "Questions to the Chairman" that can be treated as open ended, but must be taken literally as allowing people to raise issues, but not decide them.