Meeting documents

Standards Hearing Sub-Committee
Tuesday, 12 July 2011

standards hearing sub-committee

MINUTES of the Meeting held in the Community and Regeneration Room, Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne on Tuesday 12th July 2011 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Present: Mr Chris Maclean (Independent Member and Chairman), Councillor Ken Ingleton (Parish Councillor) and Councillor Pat Sandle (Borough Councillor).

Officers Present: Katherine Bescoby, Monica Blades-Chase and Mark Radford.

Also In Attendance: Mr John Greenhill (Investigator).

145  

declarations of interest

No interests were declared

 
 

part b decision to be taken by the sub-committee: parish council complaint

 
146  

exclusion of the press and public

RESOLVED:

(1) That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.
 
147  

review of complaint no. sbc 0010/10

The Interim Head of Legal advised that the subject member had sent an email apologising that she was not able to attend the hearing. Copies of the email were tabled at the meeting, which Members were given time to read. The Sub-Committee considered that the hearing should go ahead given that sufficient information had been provided and that the subject member had been given plenty of notice of the date of the hearing.

The Chairman then outlined the procedure for the meeting as set out in Appendix V of the report, and invited the interim Head of Legal to outline the main aspects of the pre-hearing process summary, copies of which were circulated at the meeting.

The Chairman then invited the Investigator to present the findings of his investigation into the alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct. Members were given the opportunity to ask questions of the Investigator and the interim Head of Legal.

A further email which had been received that afternoon was brought to the attention of the Sub-Committee.

The Monitoring Officer, the Democratic and Electoral Services Manager and the Investigator left the meeting whilst the Sub-Committee discussed the matter and returned to be advised of the Sub-Committee's decision.

The Monitoring Officer, the Democratic and Electoral Services Manager and the Investigator left the meeting whilst the Sub-Committee discussed whether to apply sanctions or to make recommendations to the Parish Council concerned, and returned to be advised of their decision.

In concluding the meeting, the interim Head of Legal confirmed that a written decision would be produced and the decision notice would be circulated by the Monitoring Officer, and then published in a newspaper.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the Sub-Committee finds that there was a breach of Paragraph 5 and 9 of the Code of Conduct and that the sanction of Censure should be imposed.

(2) That the Sub-Committee found that there was no breach of Paragraph 12 of the Code and therefore no sanction should apply.
RECOMMENDED:
(1) That the Sub-Committee asks the Standards Committee to make the following recommendations to the Parish Council:-
1. that all business transacted at the parish council's meetings should be recorded formally in the minutes, especially any declarations of interests.
2. that members who have personal and prejudicial interests should formally declare their interests at the meeting in accordance with the provisions of the Code.
3. that members who have a prejudicial interest should withdraw from the room where the meeting is being held and that their withdrawal should be noted in the minutes in accordance with the provisions of the Code.
4. That Members should check the minutes for accuracy
 
All Minutes are draft until agreed at the next meeting of the Committee/Panel

View the Agenda for this meeting

 

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