Standing Orders

1. MEETINGS

The Statutory Annual Meeting (a) in an election year shall be held on the Thursday next following the fourth day after the ordinary day of elections to the Council and (b) in a year, which is not an election year, shall be held on the second Thursday in May.

Other meetings shall be held on the second Thursday in every month commencing at 7 pm unless the Council otherwise decides at a previous meeting with the exception of August and December.

Additional meetings shall be held, as required, at the discretion of the Chairman.

2. CODE OF CONDUCT

Members of the Council are subject to the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council (Sept 2007). All members must declare their personal and prejudicial interests in any items on the agenda before the meeting commences.

3. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE CHAIRMAN

The person presiding at a meeting may exercise all the powers and duties of the Chairman in relation to the conduct of the Meeting.

4. PROPER OFFICER

The Proper Officer of the Council is the Clerk. The Responsible Financial Officer of the Council is the Clerk. Other duties and responsibilities of the Clerk are laid down in the Conditions of Service Contract and Job Description.

Notwithstanding those duties and responsibilities, it shall be the duty of the Clerk to advise Members on the content and interpretation of these Standing Orders.

5. QUORUM

A minimum of four members of the Council shall constitute a quorum. If a quorum is not present when the Council meets or if during the meeting the number of Members, for whatever reason, falls below the quorum, the business not transacted at that meeting shall be transacted at the next meeting or on such other day as the chairman may decide.

6. ADMISSION OF THE PUBLIC AND PRESS TO MEETINGS

The public shall be admitted to all meetings of the Council and its committees and sub-committees.

The following action may be used to temporarily exclude the public by means of the following resolution: -

“That in view of the * (special) (confidential) nature of the business about to be transacted, it is advisable in the public interest that the public be temporarily excluded and they are instructed to withdraw”

Note: * The special reason should be stated. If a person’s advice or assistance is needed they may be invited (by name) to remain after the exclusion resolution is passed.

7. PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

A period of time shall be set aside at the start of a Meeting to allow members of the public to ask questions, or make statements on any subject and of any Member or Unitary Councillor or member of Constabulary or any other person present qualified to answer that question. If the question cannot be answered satisfactorily at the Meeting a postal reply should be sent as soon as the answer is known.

No question or statement by a member of the public shall exceed three minutes, unless agreed by the Council

8. CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS

No Member of the Council shall disclose to any person, not being a Member of the Council, any business declared to be confidential by the Council.

9. VOTING

Members shall vote by a show of hands unless the meeting decides otherwise.

If the meeting so requires, the Clerk shall record the names of the Members who voted on any question and how they voted.

The Chairman may give an original vote on any matter put to the vote, and in the case of an equality of votes may give a casting vote, whether or not an original vote was given. If the person presiding at the AGM would have ceased to be a member of the Council but for the statutory provisions which preserve the membership of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman until the end of their term of office, he may not give an original vote in an election for Chairman. The person presiding must give a casting vote whenever there is an equality of votes in an election for Chairman.

10. ORDER OF BUSINESS

The order of business shall be stated on an agenda paper, which shall be delivered to each Member at least three clear days prior to the date of the meeting along with the summons convening the meeting.

11. RESOLUTIONS MOVED ON NOTICE

Except as provided by these Standing Orders no resolution may be moved unless the business to which it relates has been included on the Agenda.

Members may put an item or notice of resolution on the Agenda by giving the Clerk written notice of the item or resolution at least seven clear days prior to that meeting to which that agenda relates.

Every resolution, amendment or recommendation shall be relevant to some subject over which the Council has the power or which affects its area.

12. RESOLUTION MOVED WITHOUT NOTICE

Resolutions on procedural matters may be moved without notice including those to vary the order of business on grounds of urgency or procedural efficiency. Such resolutions shall be put to the vote without discussion.

13. RULES OF DEBATE

All remarks shall be addressed to the Chairman.

No discussion shall take place on the minutes of the previous meeting except upon their accuracy. Correction to the minutes shall be made by resolution and must be initialled by the Chairman.

A Member shall, except as provided by these Standing Orders, only be entitled to speak once on any motion or amendment.

A Member shall direct comments to the question under discussion or to a personal explanation or to a point of order.

No speech by a mover of a resolution shall exceed three minutes and no other speech shall exceed two minutes except by consent of the Council.

A mover of a resolution shall have the right of reply not exceeding one minute.

The ruling of the Chairman on a point of order or on the admissibility of an item shall not be discussed.

A representative of the Local Constabulary shall be allowed to speak at Council meetings at the discretion of the Chairman.

Whenever the Chairman rises to his feet during a debate all other Members shall be seated and silent.

14. CLOSURE

A motion of closure of a debate may be moved at any time but must be proposed and seconded without comment. The Chairman may refuse such a motion if he feels the question before the Council has not been sufficiently debated.

15. RECISSION of PREVIOUS RESOLUTION

A decision of the Council (whether affirmative or negative) shall not be reversed within six months except by a special resolution, the written notice of which bears the names of at least three Members of the Council. When such a resolution has been disposed of, no similar resolution may be moved within a further six months.

16. UNITARY COUNCILLOR  

The Unitary Councillor who is not also a Parish Councillor shall be invited to attend meetings and shall be sent copies of agendas, minutes and other relevant documentation. He may be allowed to speak at the discretion of the Chairman.

17. LENGTH OF MEETINGS

Except at the discretion of the Chairman, all meetings of the Council shall finish not later than two-and-a-half-hours after commencement. Any business not transacted shall be carried over to the next meeting or such other date as the Chairman may decide.

18. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS

These Standing Orders may be suspended at any time and for any period of time by resolution.

19. EMAIL POLICY

Do not send round robins.   If you wish to inform the whole council about something  it should be sent to the Clerk and then the Clerk will check that there is nothing sensitive and then send your email on.   The Clerk does not want to see emails between individual councillors – just the round robins.  It would be preferable to report any information which is not urgent at Parish Council Meetings so that it can be minuted.

Keep your emails short.   If you have information to impart which is more than a few lines long, could you please write it as a Word Document or PDF and attach it to the email.

If you upload a document or comment on facebook please make sure that it would not cause the Parish Council to be held in disrepute.

20. CONTRACTS

Procedures are laid down in the Financial Standing Orders attached.

21. COMMITTEES

Committees have delegated powers to make decisions on matters relating to their area of responsibility.   Financial powers are laid down in Financial Standing Orders attached.

22. PLANNING APPLICATIONS

The Chairman of the Planning Committee shall maintain a record of all planning application received by the Council.

Acting under delegated powers the Clerk will note the comments by Planning Committee members on individual applications and a return with those comments will be sent to the Local Planning Authority or whoever requested those comments.

If for any reason the Clerk is unable to act under delegated powers for any application, a Committee Meeting with members of the public invited will be convened to agree comments on that application.

23. MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION

a. The Council shall have in place and keep under review, technical and organisational measures to keep secure information (including personal data) which it holds in paper and electronic form. Such arrangements shall include deciding who has access to personal data and encryption of personal data. 

b. The Council shall have in place, and keep under review, policies for the retention and safe destruction of all information (including personal data) which it holds in paper and electronic form. The Council’s retention policy shall confirm the period for which information (including personal data) shall be retained or if this is not possible the criteria used to determine that period (e.g. the Limitation Act 1980). 

c. The agenda, papers that support the agenda and the minutes of a meeting shall not disclose or otherwise undermine confidential information or personal data without legal justification. 

d. Councillors, staff, the Council’s contractors and agents shall not disclose confidential information or personal data without legal justification.

24. STANDING ORDERS TO BE GIVEN TO MEMBERS

A copy of these Standing Orders shall be given to all members.

24. INTERPRETATION

In these Standing Orders words importing one gender shall include all genders and singular includes plural and vice versa.

Review Date 11th July, 2019.