Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To elect a Chairman for this meeting only.

Resolved:

To elect Councillor Stuart Wheeler as Chairman for this meeting only.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations.

To note the procedure and assessment criteria for the meeting.

The procedure and assessment criteria for the meeting were noted.

To consider passing the following resolution:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Number 5  because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Paragraph 1 - information relating to an individual

Resolved:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Number 4  because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Paragraph 1 - information relating to an individual

Preamble

The complainants, Roger and Carol Kirk, had submitted a complaint regarding the alleged conduct of Cllr Simon Richardson, a member of Staverton Parish Council. The Sub-Committee were satisfied that the initial tests of the Assessment Criteria had been met, being that the member was and remains a member of Staverton Parish Council, and that a copy of the relevant Code of Conduct was provided 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, whether it was 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 complainant’s request for a review. The Sub-Committee also considered a verbal statement from the Complainant at the meeting. The Subject Member was not in attendance.

Conclusion

The complaint revolves around comments made by the parish council to Wiltshire Council regarding a planning application the applicant had submitted. The Deputy Monitoring Officer had concluded that as the comments had been signed by the parish clerk as a collective decision of the parish council, the standards regime had no jurisdiction to consider the complaint. Additionally, as the matters occurred in July 2017 and the complaint made in October 2018, this was well beyond the limit set within the arrangements in Protocol 12 of the Constitution that a complaint must be submitted within 20 days of when the complainant became aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, of the matters giving rise to complaint. No reason was provided to justify making an exception to that rule, and the Sub-Committee agreed with the reasoning of the Deputy Monitoring Officer to dismiss the complaint for reasons above.

Notwithstanding this, however, the Deputy Monitoring Officer and subsequently also the Sub-Committee, for the avoidance of doubt decided to set out how they would have determined the case had it been submitted within time and within its jurisdiction.

It was clear from the papers provided that there had been a series of miscommunications or misunderstandings between the complainants and the parish council, including the Subject Member, regarding the planning application which had been submitted by the complainants, and the level of and nature of local support or objection toward it. Whilst the views of a parish council are not determinative for a planning application, the complainants had sought to secure support from the parish council to the decision makers, Wiltshire Council.

Having been under the assumption there were no local objections to the application in question the parish council initially supported the proposals, and changed their minds when subsequent planning objections were raised with them. As noted by the Deputy Monitoring Officer, this had unfortunately included wording which appeared to cast blame on the complainants.

The Deputy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.