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Lords Amendment: No. 137, in page 262, line 43, at end insert:
(2A) The annual meeting of a parish council shall be held at such hour as the council may fix or, if no hour is so fixed, 6 o'clock in the evening.
§ 6.0 p.m.
§ Mr. Graham PageI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
I suggest that it would be convenient if we discuss at the same time Lords Amendment No. 145.
This Amendment provides that the annual meetings of parish or community councils shall be held at 6 p.m. unless the council decides otherwise. This is a new provision and I think an important one for this level of local government. It is paralleled by existing provisions which are being continued, providing that annual meetings of principal councils shall be held at noon unless the council decides otherwise. It would be wrong to make that provision apply to parish councils.
1043 Obviously, most parish councils meet in the evenings, when it is most convenient. If they do not want to meet then but during the day they can pass a resolution to that effect. In the absence of such a resolution relating to their annual meetings it is right to provide that the annual meeting should be at 6 o'clock in the evening.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Subsequent Lords Amendments agreed to.