Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Guildhall, Bath. View directions

Contact: Enfys Hughes  01225 394410

Items
No. Item

26.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the Committee.

27.

EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURE

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the Agenda.

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Officer read out the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the agenda.

28.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTION

Minutes:

There were apologies from Sue Toland, therefore Councillor Sally Davis chaired the meeting.  There were also apologies from Dr Cyril Davies, Tony Crouch, Veronica Packham, Dr Axel Palmer and Councillor Nigel Roberts.

29.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Geoff Ward declared an interest in the investigation into the complaint report as he had worked with one of the parish councillors 15 years ago.  This did not affect his consideration of the matter and he remained in the meeting.

30.

TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIR

The Chair will announce any items of urgent business accepted since the agenda was prepared under the Access to Information provisions.

Minutes:

There was none.

31.

ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC - TO RECEIVE DEPUTATIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS OR QUESTIONS (COMPLAINTS MUST GO THROUGH THE STANDARDS COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE)

Minutes:

There were none.

32.

ITEMS FROM COUNCILLORS AND CO-OPTED AND ADDED MEMBERS RELATING TO THE GENERAL BUSINESS OF THE COMMITTEE

Minutes:

There were none.

33.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 10th December 2015 pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that both the public and exempt minutes of the meeting on 10th December 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chair(person).

34.

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

The Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution:

 

“that having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business and the reporting of the meeting be prevented under Section 100A(5A) because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended. 

Minutes:

RESOLVED that, the Committee having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public shall be excluded from the remainder of meeting business because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.

35.

INVESTIGATION INTO COMPLAINT 10-15 PAULTON PARISH COUNCIL pdf icon PDF 27 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

As all the parish representatives had sent apologies, Councillor Sarah Bevan for this meeting, also sat as a parish representative.

 

The Chair followed the procedure where an investigating officer has been appointed. Shaine Lewis, Principal Solicitor, presented the report and outlined the complaints.

 

Two of the complainants were present along with the subject member of the complaint.  One complainant and one subject member made a statement to the Committee and were questioned.

 

Following an adjournment where the officers and the subject member/complainants left the meeting to allow members of the Committee to consider their decision, it was

 

RESOLVED that

 

The Standards Committee, having read all the evidence presented in the report and at the meeting, found there were breaches in the Code of Conduct in paragraphs 4, 6, 9, 13.  Whilst the Committee accepted there were breaches they were clearly inadvertent, unintentional and there was no malice aforethought in relation to the non-disclosure of interests.  The Committee recommended that the complainants, subject member and clerk attend refresher training on the Code of Conduct especially in relation to the disclosure of interests.  The evidence for this recommendation was on page 59 (handwritten 45) and page 61 (handwritten 47) in the investigation report in respect of the councillors and there was no evidence of any advice given by the clerk to parish councillors in respect of the disclosure of interests.

36.

RETURN TO OPEN SESSION

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the meeting return to open session.

37.

REPORT ON THE ASSESSMENT OF COMPLAINTS pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer presented this report and stated there were a large number of complaints, including several from the parish council the subject of the report on the agenda. Steps were being taken to sort out the complaints and decision notices were going to be issued shortly.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

38.

WORKPLAN FOR THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE pdf icon PDF 44 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Workplan for the Standards Committee be noted.