Milford Parish Council has discussed plans to replace some public meetings with ‘informal gatherings’ to discuss sensitive issues

A plan to hold informal “get togethers” of all Milford Parish Council members to discuss “sensitive” issues was discussed during a recent meeting.

Parish chair Cllr Bernard Bennett said he felt it would be useful for all members of the council to meet regularly to discuss issues away from a public forum.

Describing these informal gatherings as a “coffee morning without the coffee”, another parish and district councillor revealed it was common practice for district council members to ‘get together’ in private for chats on various issues.

It was suggested that two public meetings be removed from the council calendar each year to be replaced with “informal get togethers” that would not be open to the public or press.

It was made clear that these meetings would not involve agendas or minute taking and no formal council decisions would be made.

Speaking after the meeting Milford parish clerk Graham Wells said he would be checking the legality of holding such meetings, and would seek guidance from the National Association of Local Councils.

He added: “There was a suggestion of trialling this at times in the year when other councils do not meet [usually August], again, as long as everything is compliant.

“I’m sure in every town and parish there are discussions between individual councillors both prior and following meetings.

“The parish chair was just suggesting that there might be room to have such conversations together without formality or decision making process.”