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Parish Council Meetings

Full Parish Council meetings are held on the last Monday of the month (unless stipulated otherwise below).

Our Planning committee meeting dates can be found here and agendas and minutes here.

Our Amenities committee meeting minutes can be found here.

2024 Full Council Meetings

  • January 29th         7pm              WHCH
  • February 26th       7pm              WHCH
  • March 25th           7pm               WHCH
  • April 29th               7:30pm         EWVH
  • May 20th                7:30pm         EWVH- ANNUAL MEETING AND ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
  • June 24th               7:30pm         EWVH
  • July 22nd               7:30pm         EWVH
  • September 30th     7:30pm        EWVH
  • October 21st         7pm              WHCH
  • November 18th     7pm              WHCH
  • December 09th    7pm               WHCH

EWVH is East Woodhay Village Hall, RG20 0AR

​WHCH is Woolton Hill Church Hall

All parishioners are invited to attend council meetings and the APM.

 

What is the Annual Meeting?

The Council needs to hold an annual meeting to carry out those things that only need doing once a year. These include:

  • Electing a Chairman

  • Electing a Vice-Chairman (if the council wants to have one)

  • Appointing committeeAppointing representatives to other bodies (e.g. the Village Hall Committee)

  • Reviewing policy documents such as risk assessment, Standing Orders, Financial Regulations, etc.

What is an Annual Parish Meeting?

  • This is, in legal terms, a quite separate body from the Council, but it is invariably the Council that arranges it (simply because it is unlikely that anyone else will do so). Its decisions are not binding on the Council, though a wise Council will normally want to take heed of what is said at the meeting.

  • The Annual Parish Meeting is a legacy from the Middle Ages, when Local Councils did not exist, and all local decision making was carried out by meetings of the whole community, taking place in the church vestry.

  • The Annual Parish Meeting is open to all electors of the Parish, who have the right not only to attend but also to speak on any matter of local interest. This is in contrast to a Council meeting, where electors who are not Councillors have no automatic right to speak.

  • This meeting has its own minutes, which should be kept separately from the Council minutes, and these minutes can only be approved by the next Annual Parish Meeting which will, of course, not be held until the following year. It is however, good practice to bring the draft minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting to the next convenient meeting of the Local Council, since otherwise matters are unlikely to get progressed. But it is important that the Council does not actually approve these minutes, as they do not belong to the Council.

What are the timetables for these two Meetings?

  • In an election year, the “old Council” retires on the Monday following the day of elections, when the new Council comes into being. The new Council must hold its Annual (and first) Meeting within a fortnight from that Monday.

  • In any other year, the Council must hold its Annual Meeting on any day in May.

The Annual Parish Meeting must be held each year between March 1st and June 1st.
Because this is a meeting of a body separate from the Parish Council (see above) the date is not affected by the Parish Council election cycle, though practical considerations may mean that you arrange it on a different date in an election year.

In legal terms the two meetings are quite separate and are accountable to two separate bodies – the Annual Meeting of the Council is accountable to the Council, and the Annual Parish Meeting is accountable to the electors as a whole. Some councils hold both on the same night, and whilst not best practice, so long as there is a clear distinction between the two, and each meeting is formally opened and closed so that everyone present knows which meeting is taking place at any given time, this is acceptable. 

  • We will make it clear to any non-councillors that they can take part in the Annual Parish Meeting but not in the Annual Meeting of the Council.