1. Meetings of the Council shall be held at .the Village Hall at 7.30 P.M unless the Council otherwise decides at a previous meeting.

2. Smoking is not permitted at any meetings of the Council.

3. The Statutory Annual Meeting (a) in an election year shall be held on the Monday following the fourth day after the ordinary day of elections to the Council and (b) in a year which is not an election year shall be held on the first Monday after the Mayday Bank Holiday.

4. The three other statutory meetings shall be held on the in the months of September, January and March, normally on the first non-Bank Holiday Monday.

5. Three meetings shall be held in the months of May, July and November and additional meeting may be called to consider planning and other matters as necessary.

6. The person presiding at a meeting may exercise all the powers and duties of the Chairman in relation to the conduct of the Meeting.

7. Where a statute, regulation or order confers functions or duties on the proper officer of the Council in the following cases, he shall be the Clerk:

In any other case the proper officer shall be the person nominated by the Council and recorded in the minutes and, in default of nomination, the Clerk.

8. Three members shall constitute a quorum.

9. If a quorum is not present when the Council meets or if during a meeting the number of councillors present and not debarred by reason of a declared pecuniary interest falls below the quorum, the business not transacted at that meeting shall be transacted at the next meeting or on such other day as the Chairman may fix.

10. Members shall vote by show of hands, or, if at least two members so request, by signed ballot.

11. If a member so requires, the Clerk shall record the names of the members who voted on any question so as to show whether they voted for or against it.

12. Subject to paragraphs 13 and 14 below the Chairman may give an original vote on any matter put to the vote, and in the case of an equality of votes may give a casting vote even though he gave no original vote.

13. If the person presiding at the annual meeting would have ceased to be a member of the Council but for the statutory provisions which preserve the membership of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman until the end of their term of office he may not give an original vote in an election for Chairman.

16. At every meeting other than the Annual Meeting the first business shall be to appoint a Chairman if the Chairman and Vice-Chairman be absent and to receive such declarations of acceptance of office (if any) as are required by law to be made, or if not then received to decide when they shall be received.

17. At every meeting of the Council a period, normally 30 minutes shall be set aside in which the members of the Public attending the meeting may raise any matters concerning the Council. After this, the order of business, unless the Council otherwise decides on the ground of urgency, shall be as follows:

18. In every year not later than the meeting at which the estimates for next year are settled the Council shall review the pay and conditions of service of existing employees. (See Standing Order 58, below)

19. A motion to vary the order of business on the ground of urgency:

20. Except as provided by these Standing Orders, no resolution may be moved unless the business to which it relates has been put on the Agenda by the Clerk or the mover has given notice in writing of its terms and has delivered the notice to the Clerk at least two clear days before the next meeting of the Council.

21. The Clerk shall date every notice of resolution or recommendation when received by him, shall number each notice in the order in which it was received and shall enter it in a book which shall be open to the inspection of every member of the Council.

22. The Clerk shall insert in the summons for every meeting all notices of motion or recommendation properly given in the order in which they have been received unless the member giving a notice of motion has stated in writing that he intends to move at some later meeting or that he withdraws it.

23. If a resolution or recommendation specified in the summons is not moved either by the member who gave notice of it or by any other member, it shall, unless postponed by the Council, be treated as withdrawn and shall not be moved without fresh notice.

24. If the subject matter of a resolution comes within the province of a committee of the Council, it shall, upon being moved and seconded, stand referred without discussion to such committee or to such other committee as the Council may determine for report; provided that the Chairman, if he considers it to be a matter of urgency, may allow it to be dealt with at the meeting at which it was moved.

25. Every resolution or recommendation shall be relevant to some subject over which the Council has power or which affects its area.

26. Resolutions dealing with the following matters may be moved without notice:-

27. A member may ask the Chairman or the Clerk any question concerning the business of the Council, provided notice of the question has been given to the person to whom it is addressed before the meeting begins.

28. No question not connected with business under discussion shall be asked except during the part of the meeting set aside for questions.

29. Every question shall be put and answered without discussion.

30. A person to whom a question has been put may decline to answer.

31. No discussion shall take place upon the Minutes except upon their accuracy. Corrections to the Minutes shall be made by resolution and must be initialled by the Chairman.

32. A resolution or amendment shall not be discussed unless it has been proposed and seconded, and, unless proper notice has already been given, it shall, if required by the Chairman, be reduced to writing and handed to him before it is further discussed or put to the meeting.

33. A member when seconding a resolution or amendment may, if he then declare his intention to do so, reserve his speech until a later period of the debate.

34. A member shall direct his speech to the question under discussion or to a personal explanation or to a question of order.

35. No speech by a mover of a resolution shall exceed ten minutes, and no other speech shall exceed five minutes except by consent of the Council.

36. An amendment shall be any of the following:

37. An amendment shall not have the effect of making the resolution negative before the Council.

38. If an amendment be carried, the resolution, as amended, shall take the place of the original resolution and shall become the resolution upon which any further amendment may be moved.

39. A further amendment shall not be moved until the Council has disposed of every amendment previously moved.

40. The mover of a resolution or of an amendment shall have a right of reply, not exceeding ten minutes.

41. A member, other than the mover of a resolution, shall not, without leave of the Council, speak more than once on any resolution except to move an amendment or further amendment, or on an amendment, or on a point of order, or in personal explanation, or to move a closure.

42. A member may indicate by raising a hand to make a point of order or a personal explanation. A member rising for these purposes shall be heard forthwith. A personal explanation shall be confined to some material part of a former speech by him, which may have been misunderstood.

43. A motion or amendment may be withdrawn by the proposer with the consent of the Council, which shall be signified without discussion, and no member may speak upon it after permission has been asked for its withdrawal unless such permission has been refused.

44. When a resolution is under debate no other resolution shall be moved except the following:

45. The ruling of the Chairman on a point of order or on the admissibility of a personal explanation shall not be discussed.

46. Members shall address the Chairman.

47. If two or more members indicate, the Chairman shall call upon one of them to speak and the others shall remain silent.

48. Whenever the Chairman speaks during a debate all other members shall be seated and silent.

49. At the end of any speech a member may, without comment, move "that the question be now put", "that the debate be now adjourned" or "that the Council do now adjourn". If such motion is seconded the Chairman shall put the motion but, in the case of a motion "to put the question", only if he is of the opinion that the question before the Council has been sufficiently debated. If the motion "that the question be now put" is carried, he shall call upon the mover to exercise or waive his right of reply and shall put the question immediately after that right has been exercised or waived. The adjournment of a debate or of the Council shall not prejudice the mover's right of reply at the resumption.

50. No member shall at a meeting persistently disregard the ruling of the Chairman, wilfully obstruct business, or behave irregularly, offensively, improperly or in such a manner as to scandalise the Council or bring it into contempt or ridicule.

51. If, in the opinion of the Chairman, a member has broken the provisions of paragraph 50 of this Order, the Chairman shall express that opinion to the Council and thereafter any member may move that the member named be no longer heard or that the member named do leave the meeting, and the motion, if seconded, shall be put forthwith and without discussion.

52. If either of the motions mentioned in paragraph 51 is disobeyed, the Chairman may suspend the meeting or take such further steps as may reasonably be necessary to enforce them.

53. The mover of a resolution shall have a right to reply immediately before the resolution is put to the vote. If an amendment is proposed the mover of the amendment shall be entitled to reply immediately before the amendment is put to the vote. A member exercising a right of reply shall not introduce new matter. After the right of reply has been exercised or waived, a vote shall be taken without further discussion.

54. A member may, with the consent of his seconder, move amendments to his own resolution.

55. A decision (whether affirmative or negative) of the Council shall not be reversed within six months except either by a special resolution, the written notice whereof bears the names of at least three members of the Council, or by a resolution moved in pursuance of the report or recommendation of a committee.

56. When a special resolution or any other resolution moved under the provisions of paragraph 55 of this Order has been disposed of, no similar resolution may be moved within a further six months.

57. Where more than two persons have been nominated for any position to be filled by the Council and of the votes given there is not an absolute majority in favour of one person, the name of the person having the least number of votes shall be struck off the list and a fresh vote taken, and so on until a majority of votes is given in favour of one person.

60. Orders for the payment of money shall be authorised by resolution of the Council and signed by two members.

61. A document shall not be sealed on behalf of the Council unless its sealing has been authorised by a resolution.

62. Any two members of the Council named in a resolution moved under the provisions of paragraph 61 of this Order may seal, on behalf of the Council, any document required by law to be issued under seal.

63. The Council may at its Annual Meeting appoint standing committees and may at any other time appoint such other committees as are necessary but, subject to any statutory provision in that behalf:

64. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman ex officio shall be members of every committee.

65. Every committee shall at its first meeting before proceeding to any other business, elect a Chairman and may elect a Vice-Chairman who shall hold office until the next Annual Meeting of the Council, and shall settle its programme of meetings for the year.

66. The Chairman of a committee or the Chairman of the Council may summon an additional meeting of that committee at any time. An additional meeting shall also be summoned on the requisition in writing of not less than a quarter of the members of the committee. The summons shall set out the business to be considered at the special meeting and no other business shall be transacted at that meeting.

67. The Standing Orders on rules of debate (except those parts relating to standing and to speaking more than once) and the Standing order on interests of members in contracts and other matters shall apply to committee meetings.

68. Members of committees entitled to vote shall vote by show of hands, or, if at least two members so request, by signed ballot.

69. Chairmen of committees shall in the case of an equality of votes have a second or casting vote.

70. A member who has proposed a resolution, which has been referred to any committee of which he is not a member, may explain his resolution to the committee but shall not vote.

71. Except as provided in paragraph 72 of this Standing Order or by statute, all accounts for payment and claims upon the Council shall be laid before the Council.

72. Where it is necessary to make a payment before it has been authorised by the Council, such payment shall be certified as to its correctness and urgency by the Clerk. Such payment shall be authorised by and with the approval of the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Council.

73. All payments ratified under sub-paragraph 72 of this Standing Order shall be separately included in the next schedule of payments laid before the Council.

76. The Council shall approve written estimates for the coming financial year at its meeting in the month of November.

77. Any committee desiring to incur expenditure shall, not later than 31 October, give to the Clerk a written estimate of the expenditure recommended for the coming year.

78. Canvassing of members of the Council or of any committee, directly or indirectly, for any appointment under the Council shall disqualify the candidate for such appointment. The Clerk shall make known the purport of this sub-paragraph of this Standing Order to every candidate.

79. A member of the Council or of any committee shall not solicit for any person any appointment under the Council or recommend any person for such appointment or for promotion; but, nevertheless, a member may give a written testimonial of a candidate's ability, experience or character for submission to the Council with an application for appointment.

80. Standing Orders Nos. 78 and 79 shall apply to tenders as if the person making the tender were a candidate for an appointment.

81. A member may for the purpose of his duty as such (but not otherwise), inspect any document in possession of the Council or a committee, and if copies are available shall, on request, be supplied for the like purpose with a copy.

83. No member of the Council or any committee or sub-committee shall, in the name of or on behalf of the Council:

unless authorised to do so by the Council or the relevant committee or sub-committee.

84. The public shall be admitted to all meetings of the Council and its committees which may, however, temporarily exclude the public by means of the following resolution that:

"In view of the special or confidential nature of the business about to be transacted, it is advisable in the public interest that the public be temporarily excluded and they are instructed to withdraw."

89. The Clerk shall, as soon as it is received, enter in a book kept for the purpose the following particulars of every planning application notified to the Council:

a. the date on which it was received;

b. the name of the applicant;

c. the place to which it relates;

d. a summary of the nature of the application.

90. The Clerk shall refer every planning application to the Chairman or in the Chairman's absence to the Vice-Chairman within 5 days of receiving it.

Any member in breach of the provisions of paragraph (a) of this Standing Order shall be removed from any committee of the Council by the Council.

94. Any or every part of the Standing Orders except those printed in bold type may be suspended by resolution in relation to any specific item of business.

95. A resolution permanently to add, vary, or revote a Standing Order shall when proposed and seconded, stand adjourned without discussion to the next ordinary meeting of the Council.

97. No member of the public, job applicant, elected member, or employee shall receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, race, sexual orientation, marital status or disability.

98. The Council has a continuing duty under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 to ensure that in the provision of its services due regard must be given to:

c. the promotion of good race relations between people of different racial groups.

99. Members are reminded that the Council has a general duty to consider the following matters in the exercise of any of its functions:

100. A copy of these Standing Orders shall be given to each member by the Clerk upon delivery to him of the member's declaration of acceptance of office or after revisions are made.