3 Consideration of a dispensation request by Councillor Philippa Ridout of Wiltshire Council
To consider a dispensation request by Councillor Philippa Ridout of Wiltshire Council.
Supporting documents:
Minutes:
The Monitoring Officer corrected an error in paragraph 4, page 1 of the agenda, which should state Warminster Town Council (not Trowbridge).
The Monitoring Officer then introduced a report presenting a dispensation request received from Councillor Philippa Ridout, a member of Wiltshire Council and Warminster Town Council, on 25 May 2010. The request related to future grant applications and community asset transfer requests
made by Warminster Town Council to the Warminster Area Board, who are the decision makers in these matters on behalf of Wiltshire Council
He explained the law and guidance relevant to this request and advised that, in his view, a personal and prejudicial interest would arise as those matters affect the financial position of the Town Council. He also stated that the legal criteria had been met as three out of the five members (more than 50%) of the Area Board were dual hatted members (members of Warminster Town Council as well as Wiltshire Council) and would be prohibited from voting at a meeting as a result of their prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct.
He reminded the Sub-Committee that, in reaching a decision, they must have regard to guidance from Standards for England and must take into account the local criteria listed in paragraph 8 c. on page 2 of the agenda, except item iii., the impact on the outcome of the proposed vote, as it did not apply in this case. He stated that he was not aware of any other relevant circumstances.
He also reminded them that there were different options when granting a dispensation, as listed in paragraph 7, on page 1 of the agenda.
The Monitoring Officer pointed out that each application for a dispensation had to be considered on its own merits and any dispensations that have already been granted to other members of the same body would have to be disregarded.
Members of the Sub-Committee noted the ongoing situation with
dual-hatted members on area boards and
the operation of the Code of Conduct and recognised that the use of
dispensations to resolve the difficulty is only available where the
legal requirements are met. Having satisfied themselves that the
requirements were met in this case they went on to consider the
appropriate duration for the dispensation. They had regard to
earlier decisions of the Sub-Committee in similar cases, in
particular where dispensations had been granted for one year only
to April 2011, but were concerned about the administrative time and
cost of bringing these back for reconsideration. They were, therefore, minded to opt for a longer
term until April 2013.
The Sub-Committee,
therefore,
Resolved:
1.
To grant a dispensation to Councillor Philippa Ridout to
speak and vote on any item of business of Warminster Area
Board concerning the consideration of
grant applications and community asset transfer requests by
Warminster Town Council.
2. The dispensation in 1. above to be effective until 30 April 2013.