Public Participation at Council Meetings

Feb 19, 2024

Members of the public have a legal right to attend meetings of a parish council and its committees, except where they are excluded (by a resolution of the meeting) for specific items which need to be discussed in confidence, for example, staffing matters or tenders for contracts.

They have no legal right to speak at meetings of the council or its committees. However, it is good practice and as part of community engagement to set aside time for public participation at meetings. It is undesirable to allow members of the public to speak throughout the meeting as this runs the risk of confusing the roles of councillors, who participate in the meeting, and members of the public who observe it.

A specific time should be set aside for public participation and standing orders should say what this time shall not exceed, with individual contributions being limited to say 3 minutes. If there is a possibility that many people will wish to speak, the chair could encourage people not to repeat comments made by earlier speakers, or even ask for a single representative to be appointed. Even many people will run out of original things to say quite quickly.

It is up to your council when to allow public participation. A good place is near the start of the meeting immediately after declaration of interests, so that everyone is aware if a member has a prejudicial interest. Comments made during public participation could be (very briefly) minuted; there is certainly no need for a verbatim record. Names of members of the public should not be minuted. Libellous, offensive, and discriminatory comments should not be minuted as the council is liable for what is in its minutes even if someone else said it. You should just minute the total number of public and press in attendance.

Neither councillors nor the clerk is under any pressure to respond immediately to comments made during public participation other than those which relate to items on the agenda. A comment could be referred to the clerk to write to, or meet the speaker, or could form the basis for an agenda item at a future meeting. Members of the public do not have a right to force items onto the council agenda, but a good council will want to respond to public concern in some way.

The public have a legal right to attend council and committee meetings, but they do not have a right to disrupt them. Members of the public should not heckle or otherwise disrupt and should respect the rulings of the chair.

If a record of public and press attending needs to be taken for fire safety regulations this must be destroyed as soon as the meeting is over, there is no need to keep a copy.

After years of stirling work Irene Ryan has reluctantly resigned from the post of Middleton Footpath officer.

If you are interested in this rewarding position please in the fiorst instance contact Tony Harris on 0771 422 6452

A vacancy has arisen for a Parish Clerk for MPC. The part time position is home based and is approximately 10 hours per week.

The candidate should be abl;e to demonstrate competence in administration, computer skills, involvement in meetings and minute taking, bookkeeeping, research and problem solving and will be expected to provide sound and practicle advice to the Parish Council. Competency in dealing with external agencies such as Warwickshire County Council is also required.

This is a very rewarding role assisting councillors in the delivery of localised services to our parishioners.

If necessary the candidate should be willing to obtain qualifications through the local council awards scheme.

Salary will be commencerate with local government pay scales and experience.

In the first instance contact Cllr. James Beamish (Chair MPC) email jamieb@me.com Mobile 07498 5164349

Closing date for application s-Monday 3rd July 2023

Councillor Vacancy

Himalayan Balsam picking has resumed if anyone is interested helping in the nature reserve in Middleton please

meeting at the bus shelter Travellers rest on each Sunday in June at 10am we do 2 hours work removing balsam from the reserve

wellies will be needed and questions you can contact Tony Harris 0771 422 6452

Notice of compliance

please contact Parish Clerk on 0771 422 6452 or t.harris666@btinternet.com

if you need any further information or assistance Happy to help

Rights of access to accounts were posted on all notice boards and MPC are happy for any parishioner to examine accounts at any time of the year not just during the audit time frames specified our clerk will accommodate any reasonable request.

If you require more details please contact the Parish Clerk

The accounts for 2019/20 are available for any Parishioner to see by appointment with the Parish clerk officially between the 18th June June to the 31st July.

In order to maintain transparency the parish clerk by appointment willing to open the accounts at times outside these dates by agreement of the Council

Irene Ryan has very kindly accepted the role of foot paths Officer in Middleton We are extremely pleased that Irene will be our new officer keeping an eye on the state of our rights of way. It is not an easy task as County Council resources have been cut to the bone, but with support fro Middleton Community we are sure Irene will do an excellent job.

Working woith land owners, resident and the Parish Council we are trying to move a current right of way that runs through a residents garden in Green lane 50 yards so that it continues in the field the other side of ramblers rest. The process is not simple and will take time. In the first instance what is called a permissive route is established (this will be where the actual route will eventually run) and we would ask all walkers to use this route, we acknowledge that legally you can still walk through the garden of the home owner concerned legally, however we are sure that the new route will afford a better experience for ramblers.

Middleton Parish Council

Phil Mulligan has started up a new badminton club on a Tuesday evening 7pm-9pm all are welcome at Middleton Recreation Room for a game with friendly rivalry assured  Covid-19 restrictions apply

Notice of Parish Council Meeting