Please Contact: Lydia Hall
Please email: lydia.hall@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Please Direct Dial on: 01263 516047
08 February 2016
A meeting of the Standards Committee of North Norfolk District Council will be held in the
Council Chamber at the Council Offices, Holt Road, Cromer on Tuesday 16 February
2016 at 2.00 p.m.
Members of the public who wish to ask a question or speak on an agenda item are
requested to arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of the meeting. It will not always be
possible to accommodate requests after that time. This is to allow time for the Committee
Chair to rearrange the order of items on the agenda for the convenience of members of the
public. Further information on the procedure for public speaking can be obtained from
Democratic Services, Tel: 01263 516047, Email: democraticservices@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Anyone attending this meeting may take photographs, film or audio-record the proceedings
and report on the meeting. Anyone wishing to do so must inform the Chairman. If you are a
member of the public and you wish to speak on an item on the agenda, please be aware that
you may be filmed or photographed.
Sheila Oxtoby
Chief Executive
To District Members: Mr R Reynolds, Mr R Stevens, Mr R Shepherd, Mr N Smith, Mr N
Coppack, Mrs G Perry-Warnes, Ms V Gay and Mr B Hannah.
To Co-opted Members: Mr G Allen, Mr R Barr, Mr A Bullen, Mrs M Evans and Mr H Gupta
Substitutes: Mr P Moore, Mr P High, Mr S Hester and Mr N Pearce.
Members of the Management Team, appropriate Officers, Press and Public.
If you have any special requirements in order
to attend this meeting, please let us know in advance
If you would like any document in large print, audio, Braille, alternative
format or in a different language please contact us
Chief Executive: Sheila Oxtoby, Corporate Directors: Nick Baker & Steve Blatch
Tel 01263 513811 Fax 01263 515042 Minicom 01263 516005
Email districtcouncil@north-norfolk.gov.uk Web site northnorfolk.org
AGENDA
1.
TO RECEIVE APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
2.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS
3.
MINUTES
(page 4)
To approve as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on
15 December 2015.
4.
ITEMS OF URGENT BUSINESS
To determine any items of business which the Chairman decides should be
considered as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local
Government Act 1972.
5.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests that they may have in any
of the following items on the agenda. The Code of Conduct for Members requires
that declarations include the nature of the interest and whether it is a pecuniary
interest.
6.
PARISH AND DISTRICT MEMBERS’ REGISTER OF INTERESTS AND OFFICER
REGISTER OF GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY
Members are reminded that the Parish and District Members’ Register of Interests
and Officer Register of Gifts and Hospitality are available for inspection in the
Democratic Services section.
7.
PARISH COUNCILS AND STANDARDS: WIDER ENGAGEMENT PHASE 4
Discussion as to whether Members would like the engagement events to continue
and which topics should be covered.
8.
EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
To pass the following resolution:
“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public
be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that
they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1
and 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act”
9.
STANDARDS INVESTIGATION - FINAL REPORT
(Report – p.8) (Appendix A- p.17) (Appendix B – p.27) (Appendix C – p.32)
(Appendix D – p.38) (Appendix E – p.39) (Appendix F – p.41)
(Independent Person’s View – p.47)
NOT FOR PUBLICATION – BY VIRTUE OF PARAGRAPHS 1 & 3 OF PART 1 OF
SCHEDULE 12A (AS AMENDED) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972
Summary:
This report presents to the Standards Committee the
conclusions of an investigation into a complaint regarding
the behaviour of a member of North Norfolk District
Council and asks members whether they wish to accept
or reject the findings of the investigation.
Conclusions:
The conclusions of the investigation must be taken
together with the view of the Independent Person and the
advice of the Monitoring Officer.
Recommendations:
Members are recommended to consider the report
and documentation and decide whether they wish to
take any action in relation to the allegations.
Agenda Item 3
STANDARDS COMMITTEE
Minutes of a meeting of the Standards Committee held on 15 December 2015 in the
Council Chamber, Council Offices, Holt Road, Cromer at 2.00pm.
Members present:
District Member
Mr N Coppack
Mr B Hannah
Mr R Shepherd
Mr R Stevens (Chair)
Mr N Smith
Officers in
attendance
The Monitoring Officer
The Democratic Services Team Leader
The Democratic Services Officer
1. TO RECEIVE APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Mrs H Cox, Mrs G Perry-Warnes, Mr R Reynolds, Mr G Allen, Mr R Barr and Mrs M
Evans.
2. PUBLIC QUESTIONS
None.
3. MINUTES
The Minutes of the Meeting of the Standards Committee held on 25 August 2015 and
the Hearing held on 20th October 2015 were approved as correct records and signed by
the Chairman.
Following the Hearing in October, the Monitoring Officer had received further
correspondence from the Parish Council involved which had been circulated to Members
prior to the meeting. The Parish Council 7th December letter (received 14th December)
had decided not to provide further training for the subject member involved as
recommended by the Standards Committee, but did accept that unacceptable language
had no place at a public meeting, provoked or otherwise. They said that the Chairman
would be advising the subject member.
The Parish Council had raised concerns over the time the complaint had taken to come
to fruition and wrote that they believed the investigation had taken too long and that this
had caused detriment to the subject member involved.
Standards Committee
15 December 2015
The Monitoring Officer said that he could investigate the time the complaint took and see
if there were any mitigating circumstances.
Mr G Allen said that there was an agreed time period for complaints and this should be
checked and adhered to.
The Chairman said that if they were culpable for any unnecessary delays then they
should apologise and commented that the complaint had taken eight months and that
this was a long time to await the outcome.
Mr H Gupta commented that the subject member had attended the Hearing and stayed
very quiet and admitted to the accused behaviour and said that he found it interesting
that the Parish Council had come to the conclusion outlined in their letter.
4. ITEMS OF URGENT BUSINESS
None.
5. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
The Chairman declared a non-pecuniary interest in Case #4 in item 9 as he knew the
people involved.
Mr B Hannah declared a non-pecuniary interest in Case #7 in item 10 as he knew the
people involved.
6. PARISH AND DISTRICT MEMBERS’ REGISTER OF INTEREST AND OFFICER
REGISTER OF GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY
None.
7. PARISH COUNCILS AND STANDARDS: WIDER ENGAGEMENT PHASE 3
The Democratic Services Officer said that the third phase of events had the topic of
Registers of Interest and Declarations of Interest and that the events were held in
Fakenham, North Walsham and at NNDC offices in September for the West, East and
Central areas respectively.
The Democratic Services Officer said that the data showed 85 parish and town
councillors had attended represented 66 of the district’s parish and town councils. She
informed Members that overall the feedback had been very positive and that attendees
had rated the evenings as ‘Good’ and ‘Excellent’ and that the events had been
informative, enjoyable and useful. She said that future event topic suggestions had been
planning, enforcement, standing orders and formulation of policy documents. She
suggested that following previous events that FOIs were considered as this could be
linked with requests to cover transparency, but added that this was for the Committee to
decide.
Standards Committee
15 December 2015
The Democratic Services Officer said that the Planning Workshops had been a
corporate event and had taken place in November at Bodham for the central parishes,
Wells for the west and Neatishead for the east. She said that feedback had rated the
content, practical exercise and the event style as ‘Excellent’ and ‘Good’ and that the
evenings were informative, enjoyable and useful. She added that 106 feedback forms
had been returned but that more people had attended in total. Future topics were
highlighted as enforcement and planning and conservation. This information has been
passed on for consideration by officers.
8. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
The following resolution was passed:
“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be
excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they
involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 3 of
Part I of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act”
9. STANDARDS INVESTIGATIONS – NOT RECOMMENEDED FOR INVESTIGATION
The first three cases involved the same subject member and the first four cases were all
concerning the same parish/town council.
Case #1: Complaint was subjective and concerned the minutes of a meeting which is not
a standards issue.
The Committee AGREED that no further action was required.
Case #2: Complaint concerned remarks made on social media which was not a breach
of the code and the Independent Person had agreed with this assessment.
The Committee AGREED that no further action was required.
Members did discuss the increased use of social media and decided that a cautionary email be sent to all Parish and Town Councils to advise the use of it.
Case #3: Complaint concerned aggressive behaviour but no reasons were given.
Bullying and aggression are unacceptable but the information supplied was not sufficient
to require an investigation and the Independent Person agreed with this assessment.
The Committee AGREED that no further action was required.
Case #4: Complaint was regarding behaviour but subject member was not acting in their
official capacity.
Standards Committee
15 December 2015
The Chairman took no part in the discussion of this case.
The Committee AGREED that no further action was required.
Case #5: Complaint was unusual as there were no standards or ethics complaints
against the three subject members named and appeared to be a complaint about the
council as a whole. The issues had no connection to the functions of a town or parish
council.
The Committee AGREED that no further action was required.
10. STANDARDS INVESTIGATIONS – RECOMMENDED FOR INVESTIGATION
The Monitoring Officer reminded Members not to prejudice themselves whilst reviewing
the information as full investigation reports would be coming to the Committee.
Both of the cases concerned declarations of interest which the Monitoring Officer
considered to be at the forefront of the public’s expectation regarding high standards.
Case #6: Complaint regarding consultation on a planning matter and the failure to
declare an interest by the subject member involved and that he is alleged to have told
councillors at a meeting how to vote.
The Committee AGREED that an investigation be conducted.
Case #7: Complaint regarding a failure to declare an interest about a relationship and a
planning application. The complaint was made following the recently accepted planning
application although the incident occurred nine months prior to this. Members felt that
the relationship described would not warrant a DOI and therefore disagreed that the
matter warranted further investigation.
The Committee AGREED that no further action was required.
The next meeting of the Standards Committee was scheduled for 19 January 2016.
The meeting concluded at 14.59pm
___________________________________
Chairman
Standards Committee
15 December 2015