Annual Parish Meetings

A parish meeting, in England, is a meeting to which all the electors in a civil parish are entitled to attend.

In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with statutory powers, and electing a chairman and clerk to act on the meeting’s behalf. Acton, having more than 200 electors has its own parish council.

Parish meetings are a form of direct democracy, which is uncommon in the United Kingdom, which primarily uses representative democracy.

In England, the annual parish meeting of a parish with a parish council must take place between 1 March and 1 June, both dates inclusive, and must take place no earlier than 6pm.

The agenda for the next meeting will be available here before the meeting takes place.

In areas where there is a parish council, the chairman of the parish council shall chair the parish meeting. The parish meeting is not a parish council and acts only as an annual democratic point of communication.