Biggleswade Town Council Meetings - exclusion of press & public



At the Biggleswade Town Council Meeting of 26th July 2011, I asked in the public open session:

You have a heading of Exempt Items on the agenda at item 14.

Why are you quoting :

Section 1001 (1) of the LGA (Access to Information) (variation) order 2006 Schedule 12a part I, part 3.

When I have previously told the Town Clerk and more recently the Mayor, there is no such legislation. I have also told the Town Clerk that the correct quotation is:

Section 100I (1) of the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, as amended by the Local Government (Access to information) (variation) order 2006, Part 1, Paragraph 3.

Why are you not using what a number of other Councils use by resolution, which is:

Section 1 of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, which says, in view of the confidential nature of business about to be transacted, it is advisable in the public interest that the press and public be temporarily excluded and they are instructed to withdraw.

I have also previously advised the Town Clerk of this.

At present by quoting non existent legislation, you cannot legally exclude the press and the public.

The response from The Mayor, Councillor Tim Woodward, was basically as Mayor under standing orders I can exclude anybody. My comment as I sat down was "aint democracy wonderful".

The draft minutes of the meetings say:

Mr Richard Mason wanted to draw attention to the legislation stated on the Agenda item 14, he advised that this legislation does not exist and should be Section 100I * (1) of the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, as amended by the Local Government Access to Information (variation) order 2006, Part 1, Paragraph 3.

He also wanted to draw attention to "Omission Act 1960" - 'Pursuant to Section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admission to meetings) Council resolved to exclude  the public and press by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.'

I emailed the Town Clerk and copied it to all Town Councillors:

I have today seen the draft minutes of the above meeting.

The minutes concerning what I said at the meeting do not entirely reflect what I actually said. I have attached a copy of what I actually said.

I made no mention of an Omission Act 1960, if one exists.

There is no mention of the fact that I had previously brought this to your attention and that of the current Mayor but a fictitious Act continued to be quoted. The most important point I made was that you cannot rely on quoting legislation that does not exist to lawfully exclude the press and the public.

Neither do the minutes include the response from the Mayor, Tim Woodward, which was basically as Mayor under Standing Orders I can exclude anyone I like. I cannot see that in the copy of the Standing Orders you provided me with, but I will be taking that up with the Mayor.

The standing orders also include fictitious legislation concerning exempt items.

I would appreciate it, if the appropriate amendments could be made to the minutes.

I also emailed the Mayor, Councillor Tim Woodward and copied it to all Town Councillors:

At the above meeting I politely pointed out to the Council that the legislation which the Council are relying on did not exist, so you could not legally exclude the press and public and I suggested an alternative. I had previously said the same to the Town Clerk in writing more than once and to you when we met on Wednesday 6th July 2011.

Your terse response in not so many words, was that under standing orders, as Mayor you could exclude anyone you liked.

The Town Clerk has provided me with a copy of the Council standing orders and firstly the same non existent legislation is shown in them. Secondly having read and reread the orders I cannot find one where the Mayor has the authority to exclude the press and public if they are behaving themselves.

Perhaps you could kindly point out to me which standing order you were quoting?

At the Town Council meeting on Tuesday 23rd August the minutes went unamended and unchallenged. Yet again we have minutes, to coin a phrase from the Town Clerk, that do not reflect the discussions that took place.

The Mayor, Councillor Tim Woodward, said that doubt had been expressed on whether he had the authority to exclude anyone under standing orders. My understanding of what he said was (and confirmed by others later), that he would ask a person to leave and if they did not do so, he would decide that they had interrupted the meeting and under standing orders he could exclude them.

This is the standing order to which I think he is referring:

63.           If a member of the public interrupts the proceedings at any meeting, the Mayor may, after warning, order that he/she be removed from the meeting and may adjourn the meeting for such period as is necessary to restore order.

I have not received the courtesy of a response to my emails from either the Town Clerk or the Mayor.