Committees

Parish Council meetings are currently held in the Victoria Hall; Standing Committee meetings are held in the Parish Council Office or LadyKaye Meeting Room which is located above the Appleton Hall.

The Full Parish Council meets on the first Monday of each month (excluding Bank Holidays when the meeting is deferred to the following Monday) at 7.30pm and Standing Committees meet on intervening Monday evenings and/or Thursdays; as required by the business they need to conduct; at 7.00pm unless stated otherwise on the meeting notice.

Meetings are conducted in accordance with the Parish Council’s HWPC Standing Orders May 2023.  All meetings are open to the public except when specific items, normally staff or commercially sensitive matters are being discussed when it may be considered prudent to exclude the public.

All meetings shall have an Open Forum to provide an opportunity for the public to speak. In accordance with Standing Orders, the Council or Committee Chairman may adjourn a meeting during a particular item to hear from a member of the public if it is of relevance to the matter under consideration.

These meetings are to be made accessible to the Public by way of phone or online, if unable to attend in person – please see meeting paperwork for guidance on how to join the meetings.

The Parish Council operates a committee structure, with the majority of its work carried out by its three Standing Committees. The Standing Committees are essentially autonomous and are responsible for setting and spending their own budget, within the constraints of the HWPC Committee Terms Of Reference 2023. The Council may also establish sub-committees and working parties. Such groups report through their ‘parent’ Standing Committee, which in turn report to the Parish Council, as required.

Full Parish Council is responsible for expenditure approval of any items under allocated Full Council budget, however these may be delegated to a relevant Standing Committee, if deemed appropriate within the constraints of the Financials Regulations and agreed with a majority vote at Full Council meeting.

The quorum requirement for each Committee is no less than three Committee members.

Standing Committees are appointed at the Annual General Meeting of the Parish Council held in May. The Standing Committee Chairman is appointed by the relevant Committee at the first meeting after the Annual General Meeting. The Chairman of the Parish Council is automatically a member of each Standing Committee.

The three Standing Committees are:

• Finance
• Planning & Infrastructure
• Environment & Amenities

Members of Standing Committees may be appointed to represent their Committee to outside bodies in order to research items under consideration and may be given delegated authority in advance to act as required on a specific matter. To ensure that members are not working independently of the council, all correspondence must be approved by the Parish Office and members should report back to the relevant standing committee at the next meeting.

To promote continued accessibility for members of the public and Council members, all Committee Meetings will be open to the public for remote dial in as audio only as well as face to face.  This will be via a Microsoft Teams meeting invite which will be published on the relevant meeting notice.  Members who wish to speak under Open Forum will be encouraged to attend in person, where possible.  Public meetings will still require to be quorate in person in order to continue however members who are only able to dial in remotely, may participate in the meeting discussion however they will not be able to cast a vote.

In exceptional circumstances, such as unavailability of Executive Clerk or Officer deputising for the Executive Clerk, is unable to attend a meeting in person, or the meeting is at risk from not being quorate, all Committee’s maintain delegation rights to run discussions remotely.  Remote/online Committee discussions are open to members of the public to listen in and will be publicised as per all other public council meetings.  There will be a reduced agenda in this instance and only financial matters previously approved via the budget or prior Full Council /Committee ratification, will be authorised.

Minutes of Standing Committees are approved at its next meeting (not that of the Parish Council) although are issued in draft at each Full Parish Council meeting for information. If required under a “Standing Committee Recommendation” agenda item its Chairman can table for the Parish Council Meeting:

• matters which by virtue of Standing Orders or Financial Regulations require approval of Full Council
• matters of particular relevance and/or concern to all members.

Members may raise items not included on the meeting agenda under the “Parish Councillor’s Matters” agenda item during which any matter may be discussed however no formative decision may be made under this agenda item.

For more information please see HWPC Committee Terms of Reference 2023.

For further information on the current Standing Committee memberships, please see Councillors.