Agenda item

The Chairman moved that Council receive and note the following minutes as listed in the separate Minutes Book and the additional minutes circulated separately in the Agenda Supplement and this was duly seconded by the Vice- Chairman.

The Chairman then invited questions from councillors on points of information or clarification on the above minutes and gave the Chairmen of those meetings the opportunity to make any important announcements on the work of their respective Committees.

Cllr John Noeken, Cabinet member for Resources gave an update on the Parliamentary Boundary Review, details of which were presented.

Cabinet  6 November 2012 – Minute no. 126 – Controlled Waste Regulations 2012 and Proposed Changes to the Council’s Charging Policies

Cllr Soden explained that whilst the above minute made reference to Village Hall Committees it did not specifically refer to Village Halls as had been requested. The Leader agreed with this and gave an assurance that the minute would be altered for the next Cabinet meeting.

Northern Area Planning Committee

Cllr Tony Trotman, Chairman of the Northern Area Planning Committee advised that the meeting scheduled for 21 November 2012 had been cancelled.

Standards Committee 24 October – Minute no. 19 – Implementation of New Standards Framework – Update

The Chairman drew Council’s attention to the minutes of the Standards Committee dated 24 October 2012 which had been previously circulated in the Agenda Supplement and treated as an addition to the Minutes Book for consideration under this item.

These minutes contained a recommendation to the Council which Cllr Julian Johnson, Chairman of the Standards Committee presented. The Standards Committee had at Council’s request, considered whether it was appropriate to require any additional pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests to be declared and registered under the Council’s Code of Conduct in accordance with the discretion it had under Section 28(3) of the Localism Act 2011. It had also considered whether Councillors with disclosable pecuniary interests should be required to withdraw from meetings.

The Standards Committee recommended Council to adopt an interim position of amending the Council’s Code of Conduct to require Councillors to register details of a number of specific interests as listed in the Standards Committee minute (and in the resolution below); for Councillors to declare the existence and nature of any such interests at meetings and having declared such interest, Councillors may then speak and vote on the matter unless Councillors considered it would be inappropriate to do so due to other special circumstances.

This would be an interim position pending consultation with parish, town and city councils, the outcome of which would be reported back to Council in February 2013 with a final recommendation for adoption by the Council.

In the discussion which ensued, there was general acceptance of the recommendation by the majority of Councillors present. However, concern was expressed by some Councillors that the recommendation had not been reflected in the Council Summons as business to be transacted at the meeting and was therefore not being dealt with in an entirely transparent way. The Chairman explained that following legal advice, she was satisfied that the item could be considered by Council.

The Monitoring Officer acknowledged the concerns expressed that the item had not been explicitly mentioned in the Summons and apologised for this omission. He reiterated the point made by the Chairman that the minutes of the Standards Committee had been circulated in the Agenda Supplement where Councillors’ attention was drawn to the Committee’s recommendation. The item on the Summons ‘Minutes of Cabinet and Committees’ covered the submission to Council of minutes of meetings for the period since the last Council meeting. He reminded Council that the item was considered by the Standards Committee in open session and therefore dealt with in a transparent way. He advised that the Council could proceed lawfully and reasonably to consider the recommendation if it wished to do so.

Cllr Johnson responded to questions and queries raised during the debate. The Leader of the Council emphasised that this was an interim position pending consultation and that Council would make the final decision in February taking into account the outcome of the consultation.

Resolved:

To adopt the following recommendation of the Standards Committee dated 24 October 2012:  (minute no. 19 of the Standards Committee refers)

Toadoptthefollowingas an interimposition, pendingconsultation with parish,town andcitycouncils, andto report back to the Council at itsmeetinginFebruary2013 on the outcome of the consultationandanyfinal recommendationsforadoption by the Council.

To amendWiltshireCouncil’s Code of Conductto requireCouncillors  to:

a.  register detailsof any interest in thefollowing:

•    any bodyofwhichthecouncillor is amember or in aposition of general controlor management andtowhichthe councillor is appointed or nominated by the Council;

•    any bodyexercisingfunctionsofa public nature of whichthe councillor is amember or in aposition of general controlor management;

•    any bodydirectedto charitablepurposesofwhichthe councillor is amember or in aposition of general controlor management;

•    any bodyoneofwhose principalpurposes includes the influence of public opinion or policy (includingany political partyor tradeunion) of which the councillor is amember or in a position of general controlor management;

b. declaretheexistenceandnatureofany such interest at any meeting of the Council wherebusiness relating to the interestisbeing conducted.

Havingdeclaredsuchinterest Councillors may then speakandvoteonthe matter,unless the Councillor decidesthiswouldnot be appropriateduetoother special circumstances.

Note – Recorded Vote

Cllr Francis Morland requested his vote against the above decision be recorded.

Standards Committee 24 October 2012 – Minute no. 23 Minutes of a Hearing Sub-Committee

Cllr Christopher Newbury asked a question on the Hearing in respect of Cllr Chris Humphries.  Details of the question together with the response from Cllr Julilan Johnson, Chairman of the Standards Committee attached as Appendix C to these minutes.

Cllr Newbury was concerned that there was no process for a Councillor to appeal against a Hearing Sub-Committee’s findings other than an expensive application for judicial review to the High Court.

The Monitoring Officer explained that the procedure in place which did not provide a right of appeal had been approved by Council with the aim of streamlining the process previously in place under the former statutory regime. Cllr Newbury nevertheless asked if the Standards Committee could consider an alternative appeal mechanism. Cllr Julian Johnson said he would look into the matter.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the above mentioned minutes be received and noted.