Can a parish council decide something that isn't on the agenda?

No. And the reason is worth understanding, because it explains why "any other business" is a trap rather than a convenience - and why, unlike a district council, you have no emergency route around it.

England; general guidance rather than legal advice.

Where the rule comes from

There is no provision that says in terms "a council may not decide anything not on the agenda". The rule comes from the notice requirement.

"Three clear days at least before a meeting of a parish council- (a) notice of the time and place of the intended meeting shall be fixed in some conspicuous place in the parish … and (b) a summons to attend the meeting, specifying the business proposed to be transacted at the meeting and certified by the proper officer of the council, shall be sent to every member of the council by an appropriate method."

• LGA 1972, Schedule 12, paragraph 10(2)

The summons must specify the business. Members are summoned to transact that business. A decision on something else is a decision nobody was summoned to take, and which no resident had notice of.

The proposition that a meeting can only deal with business on the agenda is treated as settled across the sector's own guidance, and it follows directly from that wording.

You have no urgency escape hatch

This is the part that catches clerks who have worked for a district or borough council.

Principal councils operate under Part VA of the Local Government Act 1972, and it gives them a way in. Their agendas must be open to inspection for five clear days, but an item outside that can still be taken where, in the words of s.100B(4)(b), "by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified in the minutes, the chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency."

Part VA does not apply to parish councils. It applies to principal councils and the other bodies listed in s.100J, and parish councils are not among them. So you have no equivalent: no chairman's certificate of urgency, no late-item procedure, nothing. If business wasn't on the summons, the only lawful routes are:

• deal with it at the next ordinary meeting, properly advertised; or
• call an extraordinary meeting - which still needs its three clear days' notice. The chairman may call one at any time; and if the chairman refuses, or fails to do so within seven days of a requisition signed by two members, any two members may convene the meeting themselves (Schedule 12, paragraph 9).

Three clear days is quick enough for most genuine emergencies. Where it truly isn't, the answer is usually a delegated power the clerk already holds, not a decision taken in the room without notice.

So what is "any other business" for?

The sector's own guidance discourages the item altogether, for the practical reason that it becomes a place where members raise whatever was not tabled - and no decision can lawfully be taken under it.

If you keep it, keep it for three things only:

• exchanging information - a member reports that the footpath has flooded;
• flagging a matter for a future agenda - with no decision beyond "put it on the list";
• nothing else.

In particular, no resolution and no approval of expenditure. A payment agreed under AOB is a payment agreed without notice.

The better fix is to rename the item. "Items for a future agenda" says what the item actually does, invites the same contributions, and doesn't imply that business can be transacted. Our parish council agenda template uses that wording, followed by "To note items for inclusion on a future agenda. No decisions may be taken."

What happens if a council does decide something under AOB?

Nobody's minutes get seized. But the decision is exposed:

• It is open to challenge. A resolution taken without the notice the statute requires is vulnerable, and a resident with standing could seek judicial review. In practice the more likely consequence is a complaint that the council can't defend.
• It undermines the record. Your minutes are evidence of what the council decided (Schedule 12, paragraph 41(1)). A minute recording a decision that the summons never advertised is evidence of a procedural defect.
• It invites a rescission motion, and having to unpick a decision third parties may already have relied on.

If it has happened, the clean remedy is to put the matter on the next agenda properly and resolve it again with notice - and to minute that you have done so.

Three related situations that are often confused with this

Public participation. Residents may raise anything your standing orders permit, including matters not on the agenda - but the council still can't decide on them. There is merit in letting residents raise other matters, since policing the boundary strictly tends to read as obstructive. The answer is "we'll put that on a future agenda", not a resolution on the spot.

Late papers on an existing item. Different thing entirely, and usually fine. The business was advertised; a report arriving late is supporting material. Make sure members have time to read it.

Amending a motion during debate. Also fine. The business was specified; the meeting is deciding its terms. What you can't do is amend a motion so far that it becomes different business.

Getting the agenda right in the first place

Almost every AOB problem is an agenda-setting problem: something was known about before the deadline and didn't make the summons. Two habits fix most of it - a standing order setting when members must submit motions to the proper officer (commonly five to seven days, and in any event before the summons goes out), and a standing "items for a future agenda" note carried between meetings so nothing gets lost.

In CouncilPapers each committee's agenda starts from its own model, with recurring items already in place and a publication deadline that tells you when the summons must go - which is usually what's missing when business ends up under AOB. See building an agenda and the publication deadline.

Related guides

• Parish council agenda template
• Three clear days' notice, with a calculator
• Exempt business and confidential items

Last reviewed 26 September 2026. General guidance for councils in England, not legal advice.