Reply to my latest questions asking if draft minutes may be seen by the public before they are confirmed by the council :
“Thank you for pointing out the error on the agenda.
Currently, it is not the policy of Maltby Town Council to publish minutes prior to them being ratified in Council.
Ann Stewart Town Clerk and RFO MALTBY TOWN COUNCIL “
In other words, whatever MTC says has been said or hasn’t been said, who was at a meeting or who wasn’t, what was discussed or not, is The Law According to Maltby Town Council and it doesn’t look as that’s going to change any time in the future.
MTC are refusing to let any minutes or documentation being seen by the public until they have been “ratified” by the council – even if they are incorrect or contain errors.
Thanks for that MTC. A truly open, honest and transparent council ?
I think not.
(ratified – formally approved and invested with legal authority(OED) )
maltbyblogger 
The minutes should be available for the public to see at the meeting they are being signed at as a true record. There is no reason that the public can’t take them home with too. Any amendment’s or corrections should appear in the following months minutes.
Thanks anne … again !
The problem here is that no matter how many times you tell me this and no matter how many times I ask for this from MTC , the answer is always no. This time I have asked where and when the minutes will be available and still no joy.
Received the following in a reply from MTC just this afternoon, regarding an item on tonight’s Agenda
” If you have an item on the agenda it is best practice to attend meetings to give the item more support.”
It seems that MTC not only have a Code of Conduct for themselves – which they don’t keep to – but that there is a “best practice” for the public !
Maybe “the public ought to sign themselves up to some training courses, if there is a “standard” that we have to keep to even though the elected members don’t.
🙂
Don’t they put a copy either on their web site or/and in Maltby library ? They should make them available to the public immediately after the meeting where they are ratified and signed by the Chair. After being ratified and signed the minutes become PUBLIC PROPERTY and have to made available to any member of the public.
Some Council’s try to delay , usually by claiming they haven’t been copied yet but they can only delay for so long and certainly should be available long before the next meeting.