Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Teri Reynolds, Democratic Services Officer
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To approve the record of the meeting held on 15 July 2015. Minutes: The record of the meeting held on 15 July was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. |
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Apologies for absence Minutes: There were none. |
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Urgent matters by reason of special circumstances 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. Minutes: There were none. |
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Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests 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. Minutes: Disclosable pecuniary interests
There were none.
Other interests
There were none. |
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Exclusion of the press and public This report summarises the content of agenda item 6, 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. Minutes: 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. |
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Screening of complaint CCC/2015/003 The committee is requested to consider complaints relating to Councillor conduct. Minutes: Discussion:
The Monitoring Officer introduced the report which updated Members on a complaint from four members of the public relating to five Parish Councillors. The committee considered the content of the four letters and discussed whether or not the issues related to the relevant Code of Conduct and if so, whether there was a potential breach by any of the Parish Councillors.
The Committee considered that the majority of the content did not relate to councillor conduct issues. Specifically, the Committee could not envisage any circumstances where voting at a parish council meeting could ever be a conduct matter. Likewise, the venue of a parish council meeting was also not a councillor conduct issue.
In relation to the issue regarding one of the Parish Councillors about potential bias due to a possible friendship, the Committee considered that there was no substantial evidence to suggest that this was the case, and therefore, it did not consider that any breach to the Code may have occurred.
Decision:
The Committee agreed that no further action be taken in relation to complaint CCC/2015/003.
Reasons:
There was no substantial evidence to demonstrate a potential breach of the Code of Conduct. |