What should be on the Annual Town Council meeting agenda?

Question

I have tried to check what should be on then agenda for the Annual Town Council Meeting via several sources but had no luck. The ones I know should definitely be on it are: election of Chair and Vice Chair, formation of committees, approving Terms of Reference for Committees, approval of insurance, approval of standing orders and financial regulations.     Is there anything that must be on it?

Also, is it legislation that an Annual Parish/Town meeting is held? We've not had one since I've been on the council. The clerk mentioned it to me but implied we hold this instead of a normal meeting, so I wasn't very keen as we have a lot on at the moment. Obviously, if she had said it was something we have to do I would have been in agreement.

Answer 1

The standing items for the annual meeting are listed in the model standing orders as item 5j. The annual parish meeting is a legal requirement, although this was suspended in the emergency Covid legislation. Opinions differ on whether we are required to hold one between 7 May and 1 June this year. It is separate from a parish/town council meeting, but, in my experience, often held on the same night, by starting half an hour earlier with the annual parish meeting, which members of the council are not required to attend.

Comments

Thank you DavetheClerk. I am an idiot! I was going to go through the model standing orders shortly as I have now persuaded the Governance Committee to recommend adopting them, instead of the cut down and inadequate version we currently have. So had a look, and answered my own question.

And thanks for the info re annual parish meeting. Very helpful, especially as I now know we can hold it in June.

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The annual parish meeting must normally be held between 1 March and 1 June, but I've just checked the Welsh regulations and they differ.  To quote the SLCC guidance:

"In Wales, there is no requirement for an annual community meeting however there is a procedure for electors to follow to demand one and this is set out in Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12, para 30(1), as amended."

We learn something new every day!