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(This is with reference to the annual parish meeting as opposed to the annual parish council meeting.)
by (260 points)

1 Answer

+1 vote
Having looked at the Local Govt Ac 1972 Schedule 12 Part 3 I cannot see anything which would prevent the Councillor being allowed to speak.  However, he or she would not be able to vote in any poll taken at such a meeting.  What might come as a surprise is this though:

The chairman of a parish council shall be entitled to attend a parish meeting for the parish (or, where a grouping order is in force, for any of the parishes comprised in the group) whether or not he is a local government elector for the parish, but if he is not such an elector he shall not be entitled to give any vote at the meeting other than any casting vote.   So this means that the Chair of any Parish Council could attend anybody's Parish Meeting and if a tied vote arises, could be the ultimate arbiter of the vote.  Highly unlikely though.
by (35.8k points)
Interesting!  Many thanks.
I think you may have misunderstood that Graeme. The chairman may attend the parish meeting for his or her own parish or for any parish legally joined with his or her own parish in a formal group. In other words, the chairman may attend any parish meeting convened to discuss matters pertinent to his or her own parish.
If you remove the words in parenthesis, it says "The chairman of a parish council shall be entitled to attend a parish meeting for the parish whether or not he is a local government elector for the parish, but if he is not such an elector he shall not be entitled to give any vote at the meeting other than any casting vote. . What you say may be correct and the order could be flawed, but I suspect it has never been out to the test. It is possible that somebody could live outside the parish but has a business in the parish or lives within 3 miles of the boundary of the parish.They could foreseeably become a Parish council chair without being on the electoral roll. But taken verbatim it suggests any parish council  chair who is not on the electoral roll and therefore could be ineligible to serve as a councillor for that Parish could give a casting vote
"the parish" not any parish.
As a Parish Councillor who brought the Annual Parish Meeting to the attention of the Parish council and insisted it was called each year, I was allowed to vote in the poll for a Parish Plan. I was not considered a Councillor but an electorate at the Parish Meeting. This applies to all Councillors.
As long as they are registered to vote then they are legally allowed to as an electorate. Councillors have no authority at the Annual Parish Meeting.

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