Know your Town Council - No.1 - What are minutes?
3rd of June, 2026
As the Town Council embarks on its second year since foundation, we thought it might be useful to spend a bit of time and bandwidth trying to explain a little about how the Council 'works'. For example, how do decisions get made? What does the Clerk's job entail? Why does the agenda run in a certain order?
For our first item, and following some questions and comments recently received it seems appropriate to explain in a little more detail what the Minutes of a meeting are and also what they are not.
What are 'Minutes'?
In a Town Council context, the are a legal requirement and are not merely an administrative 'file note'. In effect they are the Council's official corporate record.
The key legal reference point is the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12.
Paragraph 41 requires that:
- Minutes of proceedings must be drawn up and recorded.
- They must be signed by the person presiding at the same or next suitable meeting.
- Once signed, they become legal evidence of the proceedings.
- Unless proven otherwise, signed minutes are evidence that the meeting was properly convened and conducted.
In summary:
Minutes are a record of proceedings and decisions.
They are not required to be a verbatim transcript of everything said.
What minutes SHOULD contain
As a bare minimum, minutes should contain the following basic information:
Meeting information
- Council name
- Meeting type
- Date
- Time
- Venue
Attendance
Including:
- councillors present
- officers present
- public attendance (either number or names where appropriate)
Schedule 12 also requires names of members present to be recorded.
Apologies
- apologies received
- whether noted or accepted
Declarations of interest
- nature of interest
- agenda item concerned
Resolutions
This is arguably the most important part - as this is the legal record of decisions made by the Council.
Minutes should clearly record:
- the motion
- the decision
- voting outcome where required
Actions
Where appropriate, for example:
RESOLVED:
(1) To approve expenditure of £8,750 from Earmarked Reserve 3.
(2) The Clerk be authorised to obtain quotations and appoint the successful contractor.
However - this legally compliant 'minimum standard' can quickly look like a decisions list or action log which lacks the detail and richness of the context behind those decisions.
Decision-only minutes are attractive because they are quick.
However they can create difficulties, such as:
Judicial review / challenge
The question could or often becomes:
"What considerations did the council take into account?"
Auditor enquiries
The auditor may ask:
"What was the rationale for this expenditure?"
Councillor turnover
Four years later none of the councillors who made the decision may remain.
FOI and public scrutiny
Residents often seek to understand the reasoning behind decisions.
A brief contextual record can avoid substantial later correspondence.
NB: This decisions-only style is one which the Town Council wishes to improve upon for the fundamental reasons of transparency and openness.
This is the key driver behind our minutes being more comprehensive than might be seen with other Councils.
Going hand-in-hand with what must be included, is a similar checklist of the types of things that should not be recorded in this format.
Minutes should generally not be:
A transcript of every comment said
For example:
Councillor Smith stated that the grass had not been cut for three weeks. Councillor Jones replied that this was inaccurate. Councillor Brown then disagreed...
This approach would consume officer time and can be foreseen to create dispute over specific wording without adding anything of quality to the public record
Political commentary
Minutes should not contain:
- officer personal opinions
- editorial remarks made by individual councillors
- criticism of individuals
- commentary on motives
A record of every conversation
The public forum, for example, may last 45 minutes.
The legal requirement is not to record every contribution or comment.
Evidence / Reports bundle
Minutes should not reproduce:
- lengthy reports where they have been prepared and circulated
- legal advice
- correspondence in full
Instead they should refer to the report considered.
As a recently established Council which has the strong commitment to openness and demonstration of transparency, creating a durable institutional record is almost as important as recording the decision itself.
A minute that explains why a decision was reached often becomes invaluable several years later when the original councillors are no longer in office.
The Local Government Act 1972 is important for town and parish councils as it contains many of the key legal foundations for how they need to operate. If you would like to explore further this link will take you through to the Government's Legislation site.
We hope that you enjoy these articles.
Please feel free to send comments in via our Contact Form found here to let us know what you thought of this and also what subjects you might like to see covered in future.