Sir, – Recently, in an attempt to expand local democracy, I have tried to persuade Kirkby Malzeard Parish Council to change their protocol regarding the issuing of meeting minutes.

At present, minutes are only issued at the start of the following month’s meeting and are approved and signed off by a vote of councillors without the public having any say about whether they are correct or not.

I feel this is an anomaly, as a correspondent of this newspaper is given a draft copy of the minutes at least two weeks in advance, which she may use in compiling her report of the meeting, which means that thousand of your readers get an insight into the proceedings before the people who actually attended the meeting.

I understand parish council minutes are not legal until they are signed off by the chairman but research has shown that The Essential Clerks Handbook suggests that it is best practice to publish draft minutes as soon as possible after the meeting, so the local community can feel fully informed and involved in matters undertaken on their behalf.

Other local councils, such as Grewelthorpe, have adopted this procedure and it works very satisfactorily. Why can Kirkby not do the same?

If other parishioners feel as strongly about this as I do, would they like to contact me with their comments on 01765- 658123 or, even better, attend the next parish council meeting (which also happens to be the AGM) at 7.15pm on Monday, April 26, at the mechanics’ institute, Kirkby Malzeard, where they could make their view known.

DAVID ROBINSON South View, Main Street, Kirkby Malzeard.