Postponed Middlewich Town Council meeting goes ahead in car park

Uncertainty still surrounds whether or not the election of the deputy chair is binding – and whether a public council meeting can be postponed at such short notice.

Middlewich Town Council should have held a full meeting on Monday, June 20, but it was postponed for a week on Sunday June 19.

An email was sent to councillors by the acting clerk saying the meeting was postponed because most of the councillors and staff had been volunteering for very long hours at that weekend’s Folk and Boat Festival.

A number of Independent councillors were angry and decided to meet anyway and go through any items on the agenda they could.

As the building was locked they met in the car park.

Cllr Garnet Marshall, who chaired the car park meeting, said: “Once a meeting has been called, if the councillors turn up and there’s at least four councillors turn up [so it’s quorate] the meeting has to go ahead.

“We dealt with the first item of business which was to elect a deputy chair.”

A deputy chair had been elected at the previous meeting of Middlewich Town Council in May - that was Labour councillor Jonathan Parry.

But there were questions over the validity of the May vote so it was due to taken again at the next meeting.

Consequently item one on the agenda for the June 20 meeting – which had been published - was to elect a deputy chair for the year.

The four councillors who turned up at the car park meeting voted in Cllr Colin Coules as deputy chair.

Cllr Marshall added: “Our meeting was legal, it was quorate’ and our vote [for the deputy chair] was legal and has to stand.”

He added: “We took residents’ questions, because a few people turned up, and then, when we got to the stage where we didn’t have any papers to go with the rest of the meeting, I called the meeting to a close and we referred all the other items to the next meeting.”

He insisted: “What we did was perfectly legal and proper.”

Cllr Jonathan Parry said he had not been aware the meeting was going ahead.

Cllr Jonathan Parry

“As far as I’m concerned the reason for cancellation was valid and in the best interests of staff welfare,” said Cllr Parry.

“I would have turned up to the meeting but all I knew was it had been cancelled. I did not receive notification that the meeting had been re-convened and would happily have attended myself.”

Both Cheshire East Council and Cheshire Association of Local Councils were asked for clarification about the situation.

A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: “We can confirm the council’s monitoring officer has been contacted about this matter and will be assessing whether Cheshire East Council is required to take any action.

“This appears to be an internal governance matter for Middlewich Town Council, who would usually seek help and assistance from the Cheshire Association of Local Councils.”

Cheshire Association of Local Councils did not wish to comment.

Middlewich Town Council was asked a number of times for a comment but has not yet received a response.

The agenda for the next town council meeting, which on the website is scheduled for Tuesday June 28, does not include the election of a deputy chair and it does include the minutes of the car park meeting.