Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 24 February 2014.

The record of the meeting held on 24 February 2014 was 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. 

The Chairman advised the Committee that a supplementary agenda had been circulated in relation to item 7 on the agenda due to further information being received. The Chairman had agreed to accept this item as urgent to enable consideration of the matter to be undertaken at the earliest opportunity.

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 provides an update on the Council’s Ward Improvement Fund Guidance and seeks a recommendation from the Members to Council that the Constitution should be amended to include the Ward Improvement Fund criteria. 

Discussion:

Further to a meeting of the Committee on 21 October 2013, Councillors considered a report which provided an update on the Council’s Ward Improvement Fund Guidance. 

Decision:

a)                 That the revised guidance and request for Ward Improvement Fund form, as set out in Appendices B and C respectively of the report, be noted;

b)                 that the Council be recommended that the criteria for the Ward Improvement Fund be included in Chapter 5 of the Council’s Constitution; and

c)                  that, dependent on the Council’s decision, the Monitoring Officer sends a briefing note to Councillors to inform them of the updated guidance and request for Ward Improvement Fund form.

This report summarises the content of agenda item 7and the appendices to agenda item 7, 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 these documents. 

RESOLVED: That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the exempt material relating to agenda item 7 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 6,and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Committee considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

The committee is requested to consider a complaint relating to the conduct of a councillor. 

Discussion:

The Committee considered complaint CCC/003/2014 received by the Monitoring Officer on 17 February 2914 and resubmitted by the complainant in a revised format on 20 March 2014.

Decision: 

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:

a)                 That, under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011, the views of the Independent Person be sought with regard to allegations 1, 2 and 3 and that the findings of the Independent Person be submitted for consideration to the meeting of the Councillor Conduct Committee to be held on 28 April 2014; and

b)                 that no further action be taken with regard to allegations 4 and 5.

Reasons:

i)                    The Committee determined that seeking the views of the Independent Person would assist the Committee in making a decision as to whether allegations 1, 2 and 3 could possibly constitute a breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

ii)         In relation to allegation 4, the Committee considered that the allegation was mainly hearsay and therefore had no factual basis. It was not possible to determine on the face of the allegations who had notified the Councillor, who was the subject of the allegation, of the alleged inaccuracy in the information referred to in the allegation. Nor was it possible, without knowing the source of the information and its reliability, to consider whether there was a breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

iii)        The Committee considered that as allegation 5 related to a meeting held on 9 July 2013, the date falls outside of the six month timeframe as set out in the Medway Council procedure for dealing with Councillor Conduct complaints under the Localism Act 2011 and that there were no extenuating circumstances that would enable this allegation to be considered.