The Annual Parish Meeting

This is not a Council meeting, but it is invariably the Council that arranges it (simply because it is unlikely that anyone else will do so). It's decisions are not binding on the Council, though a Council will normally want to take heed of what is said at the meeting.  The Annual Parish Meeting is a legacy from the Middle Ages, when Local Councils did not exist, and all local decision making was carried out by meetings of the whole community, taking place in the church vestry. The Annual Parish Meeting is open to all electors of the Town or Parish, who have the right not only to attend but also to speak on any matter of local interest. This is in contrast to a Council meeting, where electors who are not Councillors have no automatic right to speak (though many councils do, of course, have a set time before or after the Council meeting when electors can raise matters of concern to them relating to items on the Agenda of a specific meeting).