|
BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL STANDARDS COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM 1, COUNCIL OFFICES, CORKS LANE, HADLEIGH ON WEDNESDAY, 26 MARCH 2008
40 - Declaration of Interests
41 - Minutes
42 - Petitions
43 - Questions from Members
44 - Election of Chairman (with effect from 1 April 2008)
45 - Election of Vice-Chairman (with effect from 1 April 2008)
46 - Exclusion of the public (which term includes the press)
47 - Appointment of Parish Council Representative (Exempt information by virtue of paragraph 1 of Part 1)
48 - Standards Board for England Bulletin 37
49 - Procedural Considerations Under the Revised Ethical Framework
50 - Review of the Planning Protocol
51 - Member's Code of Conduct Case Reports
52 - Annual Report of the Standards Committee
53 - Quarterly Monitoring Report
54 - Training for Parish Councillors
PRESENT: |
Members
|
Co-opted Members
|
|
Mrs S P Clarke (Chairman)
Mr P Jones
Mr R E Kemp |
Miss P F Cook
Mr J B Newton
Mr J G Watson |
Mr B Riley was unable to be present.
Mr P Jones and Mr R E Kemp declared personal interests in the item referred to in Minute No. 50 below in their capacity as Member and Substitute Member respectively of the Development Committee.
Back to top
RESOLVED
That the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2008 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.
Back to top
None received.
Back to top
None received.
Back to top
The Monitoring Officer reported that Section 187 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 would come into force on 1 April 2008 after which date Local Authority Standards Committees would have to be chaired by an independent, co-opted Member.
RESOLVED
That Mr J B Newton be elected Chairman of the Standards Committee for the ensuing year, with effect from 1 April 2008.
Back to top
RESOLVED
That Mr J G Watson be elected Vice Chairman for the ensuing year with effect from
1 April 2008.
Back to top
RESOLVED
That pursuant to Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the item specified below on the grounds that if the public were present during this item, it is likely that there would be the disclosure to them of exempt information as indicated against the item.
The Committee was satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.
Back to top
The Monitoring Officer reported that, following the resignation of Mrs J M Cole, a vacancy had existed for a Parish/Town Council representative, which had been advertised. A Panel comprising the Chairman, Vice Chairman and the Monitoring Officer had interviewed an applicant for the role and recommended the appointment of Councillor Bob Feltwell of Bentley Parish Council.
RESOLVED
That the recommendation of the Interview Panel for the appointment of Mr R L Feltwell as a Parish/Town Council representative on the Standards Committee for a four year period from 26 March 2008 be adopted.
At this point, the public and press were re-admitted to the meeting.
Back to top
Issue No. 37 of the Standards Board for England’s publication, “The Bulletin” (Paper G232) was submitted. The document included information on the commencement of various parts of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 that brought the provisions concerning the new Standards framework into force, the Standards Board’s advice about publicising the local assessment of complaints and its recommendations concerning the number and recruitment of independent Parish/Town Council representatives on local Standards Committees.
The Monitoring Officer reported that the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee at its meeting on 18 March 2008 agreed to recommend to the Council that the membership of the Standards Committee be increased from 8 to 10 Members, to include three independent Members and three Parish/Town Council representatives. It had recommended at the same time that the Council authorise joint working arrangements with other authorities for the discharge of Standards functions.
RESOLVED
That the information contained in Paper G232 be noted.
Back to top
The Committee considered the Monitoring Officer’s report (Paper G233) concerning the outcome of a joint meeting of the County’s Monitoring Officers, Chairmen and independent Members of Standards Committees held on 4 March 2008, at which the draft regulations affecting the handling of complaints submitted under the new ethical framework had been discussed. The report included copies of four discussion papers presented to that meeting dealing with the possibility of adopting common, countywide assessment criteria for judging whether complaints were valid, whether there was scope for adopting a shared template for publicising the new arrangements, the possibility of creating a common complaints process – separate from the corporate procedure – with a designated form of complaint, and if a common code could be adopted to deal with the issue of complainants’ anonymity.
RESOLVED
(1) That the Minutes of the joint meeting held on 4 March 2008 be circulated to all Members of the Committee.
(2) That the Monitoring Officer be authorised, in consultation with the Chairman, to agree the assessment criteria for Code of Conduct complaints as outlined in Appendix 1 to Paper G233 (as amended following the discussion at the joint meeting) for use by the Standards Committee as interim guidance pending further countywide discussion once the regulations and guidance are published.
(3) That the Monitoring Officer be authorised in consultation with the Chairman of Standards Committee to update the criteria in Appendix 1 to Paper G233 in accordance with a countywide approach.
(4) That, subject to regulations and guidance, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to publicise the Code of Conduct complaints procedure under the 2007 Act through:
(a) the production of a single style and content leaflet containing details of all Suffolk authorities and a complaint form to be made available throughout the County.
(b) a joint advertisement on behalf of all Suffolk authorities in at least one local newspaper.
(c) information and a complaint form available on the Council’s website.
(d) an article in the ‘Babergh Matters’ publication.
(5) That Code of Conduct complaints be kept separate from the existing corporate complaints procedure.
(6) That complaints made anonymously be not accepted, but requests for anonymity be considered by the Standards Committee.
(7) That, subject to there being no contrary legal provision, a complaint and all information relating thereto shall remain confidential until the issue of confidentiality has been determined at a hearing before the Standards Committee.
(8) That subject to ratification by the Council, a review at the request of a complainant of an initial assessment by the Standards Committee not to refer the complaint for investigation be conducted by the Standards Committee of another authority and the Monitoring Officer be authorised to refer reviews accordingly.
Back to top
A joint report by the Monitoring Officer and the Chief Planning (Control) Officer (Paper G234) was submitted, which included suggested revisions to the Planning Protocol. It was noted that the Committee’s role in considering the suggested revisions was the promotion of high ethical standards and the compatibility of the Planning Protocol with the Code of Conduct.
The rules concerning site inspections and referrals to Development Committee as they currently operated could militate against the timely determination of planning applications and, for this reason, it was being suggested to the Development Committee that requests for site inspections or for referrals to that Committee should be made within 21 days of registration of the planning application concerned. In addition, as a matter of good practice and to safeguard against the possibility of complaint that a Member had sought improperly to confer an advantage or disadvantage on any person, it was suggested that requests for referral of an application to the Committee should only be made on planning grounds. The revisions also anticipated a procedure under which a Member who wished to request a site inspection or refer a particular application for determination by the Development Committee would in all cases make initial contact with an appropriate officer to discuss his/her concerns and under no circumstances would either option be available to a Member with a prejudicial interest in the particular application. It was also pointed out in the report that the current system by which an application by any employee of the Council had to be referred to the Development Committee could potentially be unfairly advantageous to the applicant as, under circumstances where such an application would ordinarily be refused by an officer under delegated powers, it offered an opportunity for the applicant to persuade Members of the Committee of the application’s merits. To avoid this it was suggested that only those applications by employees (or members of their family) that were recommended for approval should be referred to the Committee. In order to make the Planning Protocol a more comprehensive document, it had been expanded to include the existing site inspection protocol to describe the formal arrangements that ought to be applied in conducting such inspections.
The Chairman referred to an e-mail communication sent to her by Mr B Riley concerning this matter.
RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL
(1) That the revisions to the Planning Protocol shown at Appendix 1 to Paper G234 be adopted with immediate effect, subject to the following corrections:-
(a) In the last bullet point of paragraph 5.1, the word “in” be inserted between the words “note” and “the case file”.
(b) In the final sentence of paragraph 5.2, the word “if” be substituted for “that”.
(c) In paragraph 7.6, the word “that” following the word “Further” be deleted.
(d) Paragraph 9.2 be amended so that it refers to Members with a prejudicial interest.
(e) The second paragraph numbered 13.3, and all subsequent paragraphs within the section on Site Inspections, be re-numbered.
(2) That, if following consideration by the Development Committee, significant changes to the Planning Protocol are proposed that would impact upon ethical issues, this Committee be given an opportunity to consider the implications.
Back to top
The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (Paper G235) containing details of recent decisions of the Adjudication Panel and the Appeals Tribunal arising out of the investigation of alleged breaches of the Members’ Code of Conduct.
RESOLVED
That the information contained in Paper G235 be noted.
Back to top
A report by the Monitoring Officer (Paper G236) was considered, reviewing the work and noteworthy events affecting the Committee’s work over the 2007/08 municipal year. This had included responsibility for the training of Members of the Council on the Revised Code of Conduct and for making training available for Members of Parish and Town Councils. The Committee also continued to prepare for the locally based Code of Conduct regime, including by way of a partnership arrangement with Mid Suffolk District Council.
RESOLVED
That Paper G236 be agreed as the annual report of the Standards Committee to the Council.
Back to top
The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (Paper G237) containing details of interests and gifts declared by Members and Officers during the period from January to March 2008.
RESOLVED
That the report be noted.
Back to top
The Monitoring Officer reported that further training would be arranged later in the year and publicised at the same time as other matters relating to the new system for the local determination of complaints.
RESOLVED
That the position be noted.
Note: The meeting was adjourned for refreshments between 10.25 a.m. and 10.40 a.m.
The business of the meeting was concluded at 11.35 a.m.
Back to top
...................................................................
Chairman
|