Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor J Brown (with Councillor Davis substituting) and Councillor Steady (with Councillor White substituting).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee, held on 29 June 2016.

The minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee, held on 29 June 2016, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or other interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the Agenda.

Councillor Honeywood declared a Non-Pecuniary Interest in relation to agenda item 5 (A.2) as he was the Complainant and informed Members that he would withdraw from the Committee and sit in the public gallery whilst this item was discussed, however, he reserved his right, as a District Councillor, to address the Committee on this item.

To update the Standards Committee, as part of its agreed work programme, on the current position of mandatory training for Members (and named substitute members) of the Council’s Audit, Licensing & Registration, Planning and Standards Committees. 

There was submitted a report by the Monitoring Officer which sought to update the Committee, as part of its agreed work programme, on the current position of mandatory training for Members and named substitute Members of the Council’s Audit, Licensing & Registration, Planning and Standards Committees.

The report reiterated the Council’s decision and constitutional requirement to make relevant training mandatory for Members, and their named substitutes, in respect of a number of the Council’s Committees and also provided details of training undertaken and attendance to date.

The Monitoring Officer informed Members that Appendix B contained a few small errors in that Councillor Davis and Nicholls had both attended the Habitats session on 27 April 2016 however, Councillor Fairley had not. Although correct, as of the time of printing, Councillor White, who was also the Chairman of the Planning Committee, informed Members that the session with ECC Highways had now taken place and that training was scheduled on 6 October 2016 for ‘Enabling Development’ The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the amendments and updates would be made to Appendix B (Planning Training Programme). Councillor Heaney informed the Monitoring Officer that she had attended the Determining Planning Applications session on 28 May 2015 and Appeals session on 24 February 2016, but it had not been recorded. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the information was taken from the sign-in sheets but the records would be updated.

The Monitoring Officer informed Members that, in the future, the recording of Licensing and Registration Committee training would be produced in the same format as the Planning Committee training for consistency.

The Committee’s approval was also sought to a slight amendment to the Planning Code and Protocol and a delegation to Officers, in consultation with the Chairmen of the Planning and Standards Committees, to make minor amendments to the Protocol.

Following discussion by the Committee, it was moved by Councillor Heaney, seconded by Councillor White and RESOLVED that the Standards Committee:

(a)  notes the contents of the report and its Appendices;

(b)  encourages Members of the Planning, Licensing & Registration and Audit Committees to attend organised mandatory training to comply with the constitutional requirement; and

(c)  delegates authority to the Monitoring Officer and Head of Planning Services, in consultation with the Chairmen of the Standards and Planning Committees, to make minor amendments to the Planning Code & Protocol.

In accordance with the District Council’s Complaints Procedure, following a Members’ Code of Conduct investigation, the Monitoring Officer is required to report the outcome to the Standards Committee.

Councillor Honeywood had earlier declared a Non-Pecuniary Interest in relation to agenda item 5 (A.2). Councillor Honeywood withdrew from the Committee and sat in the public gallery whilst this item was discussed, however, he had reserved his right to address the Committee on this item, as a District Councillor.

The Monitoring Officer presented a detailed report to the Committee that, in accordance with the District Council’s Complaints Procedure, the outcome of an investigation was being reported to the Committee following on from a Members’ Code of Conduct investigation.

The Monitoring Officer reported that a complaint had been received in January 2016 from District Councillor Paul Honeywood regarding the actions of District Councillor Ivan Henderson under the Members’ Code of Conduct and Complaints Procedure, which had been adopted by Council on 26 November 2013.

The complainant alleged that Councillor I. Henderson had breached the Tendring District Council Members’ Code of Conduct.  The basis of the complaint concerned the alleged circulation of inaccurate and misleading information on the subject of the Careline Lifting Service along with quotes attributed to Councillor I Henderson appearing in national and local media. It had been alleged that inaccurate information had also been promoted by Cllr I. Henderson through his own Twitter account.  The alleged breaches related to:

(i)     Not having regard to three of the Seven Principles of Public Life:

·         Selflessness

·         Objectivity

·         Honesty

(ii)    Paragraph 3.4(a) of the Members’ Code of Conduct: by conducting himself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing his office, or the authority, into disrepute.

The Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that, on 4 March 2016, having considered the responses received from both parties, she had decided that it would be reasonable and appropriate that the complaint merited further investigation.  There had been a fairly wide difference of opinion between whether information shared on social media was incorrect and misleading and if so, the impact of the media reporting and subsequent use of social media on the proposed Careline Lifting Service.

Members were informed that if there were a potential breach of the Code of Conduct and informal resolution, or mediation, had not been appropriate, the Monitoring Officer must consider an investigation. The Monitoring Officer stated that it was important to point out that the investigation had not looked into any policy decision. 

It was reported that politically motivated complaints were not referred for investigation.  Consideration of whether the policy for introducing a lifting service and the ability to charge for it was right or wrong had not been the subject of the investigation. The investigation had been commissioned to look at the evidence of how information had been used, whether it was correct or not, and if not, if it had been used intentionally to mislead the public and bring the Council into disrepute.

Members were informed that the parties involved were advised of the Monitoring Officer’s decision and that an external investigator would be appointed.  Section 5 of the Complaints Procedure set out how an investigation was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

To review the Members’ Code of Conduct, with particular attention to the definitions of interests.

The Members’ Code of Conduct is included as Appendix 1A for item A.2 (Pages 29 – 38). Please refer to this for information.

The Committee reviewed the Members’ Code of Conduct, with particular attention paid to the definitions of interests.

The Monitoring Officer made some suggestions on potential changes and additions to the Code, to provide clarity, each of which were discussed with Members. Some of the suggestions were in relation to:

·         Separating the Rules of Conduct and General Obligations from the introduction and interpretation part of the Code;

·         Merge Other Pecuniary Interests with Non-Pecuniary Interests;

·         Effect of Other or Non-Pecuniary Interests on participation;

·         Including a Councillor Recall Scheme; and

·         Including Voluntary Sanctions.

It was agreed that the Monitoring Officer would produce a revised draft Code of Conduct for further discussion to take place at the next meeting so that the Committee could work towards recommending minor changes to the Members’ Code of Conduct to full Council in early 2017.

(1)  The Monitoring Officer will give a quarterly update on Complaints.       

The Monitoring Officer circulated to the Committee the quarterly schedule, which gave general details of complaints received, without providing any names, and went through it with the Committee. The Monitoring Officer also highlighted a number of other matters which included:

(1)  A couple of incidents had occurred which had involved contact between the Police and the Council involving Councillors, but in both instances it had been appropriate and correct for the Police to resolve the same as they were related to alleged criminal activity or acting within their private capacity.

(2)  There had been one Parish Council in which several contacts had been made but no formal complaints received. The Monitoring Officer intended to visit a Parish Council meeting to view the proceedings and, if necessary, report back to the Clerk.

(3)  There had been no requests received for a dispensation.