Review of an Assessment Decision: Reference WC-ENQ00215
Supporting documents:
Minutes:
A complaint had been submitted by Mr Patrick and Mrs Lucinda Horton against Cllr Susan Dawson of East Knoyle Parish Council. The allegation was that there had been a breach of the Code of Conduct in relation to conduct surrounding a public right of way.
The Chairman led the Sub-Committee through the local assessment criteria which detailed the initial tests that should be satisfied before assessment of a complaint was commenced.
Upon going through the initial tests, it was agreed that the complaint related to the conduct of a member and that the member was in office at the time of some of the alleged incidents and remains a member of East Knoyle Parish Council. A copy of the appropriate Code of Conduct was also supplied for the assessment.
The Sub-Committee therefore had to decide whether the alleged behaviour would, if proven, amount to a breach of that Code of Conduct. Further, if it was felt it would be a breach, was it still appropriate under the assessment criteria to refer the matter for investigation.
In reaching its decision, the Sub-Committee took into account the complaint and supporting documentation, the response of the subject member, the initial assessment of the Deputy Monitoring Officer to take no further action and the complainants’ request for a review. The Sub-Committee also considered the verbal representation made at the Review by the subject member, as well as written submissions from the complainants, who were not in attendance, and the subject member.
The Sub-Committee took note that the additional representations from the complainants stated that they considered that the summary of their complaint in the initial assessment, replicated above, did not adequately reflect the substance of their complaints. They noted the clarifications provided by the complainants for the review. These included that the complainants considered the subject member’s actions to have breached paragraphs 1,2,3 and 4 of the Code of Conduct. The complainants had also set out what they considered to be the links between the public and private actions of the subject member that had allegedly been to her own personal advantage.
The complaints related to the circumstances around a public right of way that lay on the subject member’s property, and the recent and historic actions of the subject member in relation to that right of way. The complainants were of the view that the subject member had breached the relevant Code of Conduct by failing to properly register and declare her interest in the land at various meetings and during the discharge of council related functions. The initial assessment had concluded that the subject member had been acting in her private capacity for most of the alleged incidents, where the Code would not apply, and that the allegations which did relate to her public capacity as a parish councillor would not, if proven, be a breach of the Code.
Considerable documentation had been provided which demonstrated that the exact route of the public right of way in question, and actions around it, ... view the full minutes text for item 38