Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 27 January 2014.

The record of the meeting held on 27 January 2014 were agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. 

There were none. 

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none. 

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

Members should also ensure they disclose any other interests which may give rise to a conflict under the council’s code of conduct.

In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons. 

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none. 

Other interests

There were none.

This report summarises the content of agenda item 6 and appendices which, in the opinion of the proper officer, contains exempt information within one of the categories in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It is a matter for the Committee to determine whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of documents. 

Resolved:

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the exempt material relating to agenda item 6 because consideration of these matters in public would disclose information falling within Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as specified in agenda item 5,and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Committee considers that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

This report asks the Councillor Conduct Committee to consider a complaint relating to the conduct of a parish councillor dated 24 January 2014.

Discussion:

The Committee considered complaint CCC/002/2014 received by the Monitoring Officer on 24 January 2014.

Decision:

(a)   In accordance with the Assessment Criteria as set out in Medway Council’s procedure for dealing with Councillor Conduct complaints under the Localism Act 2011, the Committee decided:

i)       that the matter should be referred to the Parish Council for resolution;

ii)     that the Monitoring Officer write to the Clerk of the Parish Council suggesting there is a meeting held within the Parish Council in order to attempt resolution of the matters raised by the complainant if they have not already been resolved. 

Reasons:

(a)   The Committee determined that although the complaint did potentially amount to a breach of the Parish Council’s code of conduct, the best environment for resolving the complaint was the Parish Council itself given the nature of the concerns raised.

(b)   The Committee were aware that a meeting of the Parish Council had taken place on 19 February subsequent to the complaint being lodged to try to resolve some of the matters referred to in the complaint.