The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Newton (with no substitute), Sue Gallone (one of the Council’s Independent Persons) and Clarissa Gosling (one of the Council's Independent Persons).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee, held on Thursday, 24 October 2024.

It was moved by Councillor Oxley, seconded by Councillor Talbot and:-

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on Thursday 24 October 2024 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

In relation to report A.1 (Planning Probity Protocol – Results of Consultation and Revised Planning Probity Protocol), Councillors Alexander and Wiggins both declared as a point of information for the public record that they were current, serving members of the Council’s Planning Committee.

Subject to providing two working days’ notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

No Questions on Notice had been submitted by Members pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38 on this occasion.

This report is submitted to the Committee to enable it to consider the Planning Probity Protocol following consultation with the members of the Planning Committee, the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning, Planning Officers and the Independent Persons. The report also sets out the outcome of the consultation and a revised Planning Probity Protocol for approval and recommendation to Full Council for its adoption.

The Committee considered the report that presented the updated revised version of the Planning Probity Protocol, following consultation with the members of the Planning Committee, the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning, Planning Officers and the Independent Persons.

It was reported that some themes emerging from the consultation were:

-        the concept of Bias needed to be stronger.

-        stronger links to the Members’ Code of Conduct, declarations of interest and the impact of participation at meetings.

-        importance of seeking advice earlier.

-        a determination should be made as to which Planning Applications submitted by Officers of the Council in their personal capacity should be submitted to the Planning Committee for determination i.e. Senior Officers above a certain grade and all Officers employed within Planning Services and Legal Services.

-        the importance of Member Training needed to be stressed within the Planning Probity Protocol.

-        stronger details needed around Planning Committee Members attending public meetings with applicants, developers and objectors, and

-        site visits section needed to be stronger relating to the exceptional circumstances.

Members were made aware that the outcome of the consultation was set out in detail in Appendix B of the Officer report. In addition, it was considered necessary to include some text around the Protocol on Member and Officer Relations, as that had been omitted in the first review and was relevant.

It was moved by Councillor J Henderson, seconded by Councillor Oxley and unanimously:-

RESOLVED that the Standards Committee –

(a)   notes the outcome of the consultation with the members of the Planning Committee, the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning, Planning Officers and the Independent Persons;

(b)   endorses the revised Planning Probity Protocol (subject to tracked changes being accepted as well as the typing errors being amended) and recommends to Full Council that it be adopted and incorporated into the Council’s Constitution;

(c)   subject to (b) includes an additional recommendation to Full Council that the Planning Committee’s Terms of Reference be amended to reflect the proposed seniority of Officers and all Officers within Planning and Legal Services personal planning applications to be referred to the Planning Committee; and

(d)   subject to Full Council’s approval of the Planning Probity Protocol, that training on the Protocol forms part of the Mandatory Training as required by Council Procedure Rule 33.3 for Members of the Planning Committee.

For the Standards Committee to determine whether to respond to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (“the government’s”) consultation on the Standards and Conduct framework, on behalf of Tendring District Council.

Members were told that the Government had launched a consultation regarding the application of standards and conduct in local authorities. The consultation had opened on 18 December 2024 and ran for 10 weeks, closing on 26 February 2025. It stated: “This consultation seeks views on introducing a mandatory minimum code of conduct for local authorities in England, and measures to strengthen the standards and conduct regime in England to ensure consistency of approach amongst councils’ investigation of serious breaches of their member codes of conduct, including the introduction of the power of suspension.”

Appendix A of the Officer report was a set of proposed answers to the specific questions which had been posed, together with supporting text where appropriate.

Members were also made aware that back in 2019, there had been a national review of the standards framework, and a number of recommendations had come out. Some of the recommendations required changes to legislation, especially in relation to sanctions. The previous Government had responded to that review and had said that they had no intention of amending the legislation at that current time, but that a model code had been produced by the Local Government Association (LGA) and Tendring District Council had adopted that model code.

The Committee was informed that the consultation sought views on introducing measures to strengthen the standards and conduct regime in England and ensure consistency of approach amongst councils’ investigation of serious breaches of their Members’ codes of conduct, including the introduction of the power of suspension.

Specific proposals being consulted upon for legislative change included:

• the introduction of a mandatory minimum code of conduct for local authorities in England
• a requirement that all principal authorities convened formal standards committees to make decisions on code of conduct breaches, and publish the outcomes of all formal investigations
• the introduction of the power for all local authorities (including combined authorities) to suspend councillors or mayors found in serious breach of their code of conduct and, as appropriate, interim suspension for the most serious and complex cases that might involve police investigations
• a new category of disqualification for gross misconduct and those subject to a sanction of suspension more than once in a 5-year period
• a role for a national body to deal with appeals.

Officers told Members that in addition, the consultation sought views on how to empower victims affected by councillor misconduct to come forward and what additional support would be appropriate to consider.

The consultation suggested that the Government was in favour of introducing those sanctions, but the consultation was seeking input from the sector and any other interested parties.

Members were updated on an amendment to the wording of the response to Question 19 in Appendix A of the Officer report which now stated: “Although we feel that it should remain with the Standards Committee but in the event that the national consultation supports suspension being referred to an independent body, it is unclear how a referral to an independent body would work in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

To present the Standards Committee with a report on the opportunity to reflect on the internal consultation recently undertaken on the Standards Hearing Procedure and to endorse further work from Officers on reviewing the associated Complaints Procedure and production of a flow chart to assist once a matter is referred for hearing.

It was reported that the Standards Committee framework was responsible for the function of Standards Hearings, be it whether held by the Standards Committee for District Councillor complaints or a Sub-Committee for Town and Parish Councillor complaints.

Members heard that matters reaching the Standards Hearing Procedure arose from complaints received under the Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct complaints procedure and followed a finding of a breach of the Members' Code of Conduct.

The Committee was reminded that in April 2024 the Committee had considered a proposed updated Hearing Procedure that reflected best practice and case law, and which would supplement the Council’s Complaints Procedure for dealing with allegations that a Member had breached the Code of Conduct. Full Council had previously approved the Standards Framework with effect from November 2013, which had included a Complaints Procedure. The Complaints Procedure referred to the hearing in paragraph 7.1.2 and that it would follow the relevant procedures setting out how the hearing would be conducted. The purpose of the document was to ensure that all parties understood the process which would be followed at the hearing and to assist the Chairman to conduct a fair and proper hearing. When a hearing was convened, a copy of the procedures would be set out with the Report.

Members were told that at its April 2024 meeting the Committee had been also informed that the Hearing Procedure had been approved by the Standards Committee in March 2014 and in consideration of the length of time since its adoption and with a Hearing that was due to be held in May 2024, it was felt important by the Monitoring Officer to ensure that the Council’s procedures reflected best practice and were up to date. The Standards Committee had subsequently approved the amended Hearing Procedure for immediate adoption for both the Standards Committee and the Town and Parish Councils’ Sub-Committee.

Officers also told Members that the opportunity for a further review of the Standards Hearing Procedure came after a Standards Hearing was conducted in May 2024 where the procedure was utilised and had been put through a ‘stress test’, having been infrequently used as the necessity had not arisen. The Hearing Procedure had not failed and was robust in its application, however there were some operational matters prior to the Hearing which would be addressed in the process, once a matter was referred for a hearing by the Monitoring Officer. Subsequently, informal discussion sessions had taken place with Members of the Standards Committee and Independent Persons, with their views and subsequent amendments reflected within the Officer report and within the Standards Hearing Procedure as appropriate; whilst still reflecting the Standards Framework and Terms of Reference of the Standards Committee.

Finally, Members heard that once the proposals had been considered by the Standards Committee through a formal decision, further work could be undertaken on the documentation for approval.

It was moved by Councillor Talbot, seconded by Councillor Alexander and unanimously:-

RESOLVED that the Standards Committee:-

a)    notes the contents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

The Committee will receive the Monitoring Officer’s update regarding standards complaints.

The Committee had before it the Monitoring Officer’s update on existing and new conduct complaint cases.