Parish Council minutes

[Whangerai]

Is a Parish Council legally obliged to make copies of its minutes available to members of the public and can they charge for this. What is the statutory position?

[Mr Veritas]

I can only tell you what happens in our village with regard to Parish Council Minutes.
Before the advent of the Internet the Minutes were available to view at the home of the Parish Council Secretary.
Thanks to the Net they are now (in our village at least) posted on the Parish Council Website,although they are not always very up to date!
The Parish Council (wherever it is) is NOT legally obliged to make copies of the Minutes,merely(as above) to let anyone view them at the home of the Secretary,although this has been superceeded by the Net in most cases.
IF the PC WERE to make copies of the Minutes,they could (quite legally) charge for them,as they have no other way (really) to recuperate the costs.
I think your question probably is now a thing of the past,as most PC's Minutes can be viewed on the Net.

[Schutzengel]

Mr. Veritas, in our village the Parish Council Minutes are displayed on a Parish Council Noticeboard, one at each end of the village. I don't know if it is a requirement to publish the minutes.