p. Extraordinary meetings

An ordinary meeting is a scheduled meeting convened by the council’s Proper Officer. Schedule 12, Local Government Act 1972 (para 8) requires councils to hold a minimum of four meetings (annual meeting plus three) during the course of the year. Most councils meet monthly or bi-monthly. A local council with internal delegation arrangements to committees or officers may require fewer ordinary meetings.

An extraordinary meeting is an unscheduled meeting and these may be called at any time by the Chair of the council. They are usually occasioned by urgent business that needs to be resolved before the next ordinary meeting of the council. The Chair of a council should not hesitate to call extraordinary meetings when necessary. 

If the Chair fails, or refuses, to call an extraordinary meeting of the council within seven days of having been requested to do so in writing by two councillors, any two councillors (not necessarily the same two) may convene a meeting of the council. The public notice giving the time, place and the agenda for such a meeting must be signed by the two councillors calling the meeting. If the Chair calls the meeting, the notice is signed by the Proper Officer in the normal way.

If a local council has appointed a Vice-Chair, its standing orders may permit them to convene an extraordinary meeting in the Chair’s absence.