Please Contact: Lydia Hall
Please email: lydia.hall@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Please Direct Dial on: 01263 516047
14 August 2015
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 25 August 2015
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, Mrs H Cox, Mr R Shepherd, Mr N
Smith, Mr N Coppack, Mrs G Perry-Warnes, Ms V Gay and Mr B Hannah.
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
(attached – p. 1)
To approve as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on
02 June 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.
APPOINTEMENT OF CO-OPTED MEMBERS
To receive an update on the co-opted of Members to the Standards Committee.
8.
PARISH COUNCILS AND STANDARDS: WIDER ENGAGEMENT PHASE 3
(attached – p.7)
Update on Planning Workshops for the autumn in partnership with Planning and CLT
and the new Phase 3: Registers of Interests and Declarations of Interests sessions
for September.
9.
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”
10.
STANDARDS INVESTIGATION - FINAL REPORT (CASE REFERENCE 003560)
(Report – p.9) (Appendix A- p. 23) (Appendix B – p.23) (Appendix C – p. 26)
(Appendix D – p.29)
NOT FOR PUBLICATION – BY VIRTUE OF PARAGRAPHS 1 & 3 OF PART 1 OF
SCHEDULE 12A (AS AMENDED) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972
11.
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.
STANDARDS INVESTIGATION - FINAL REPORT (CASE REFERENCE 003703)
(Report – p.34) (Appendix A- p.44) (Appendix B – p.46) (Appendix C – p.48)
(Appendix D – p.49) (Appendix E – p.56) (Appendix F – p.64)
NOT FOR PUBLICATION – BY VIRTUE OF PARAGRAPHS 1 & 3 OF PART 1 OF
SCHEDULE 12A (AS AMENDED) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972
12.
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.
STANDARDS INVESTIGATION - FINAL REPORT (CASE REFERENCE 003912)
(Report – p.67) (Appendix A- p.74) (Appendix B – p.78) (Appendix C – p.80)
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 02 June 2015 in the Council
Chamber, Council Offices, Holt Road, Cromer at 2.00pm.
Members present:
District Member
Mr N Coppack
Mrs H Cox (Chairman)
Ms V Gay
Mr B Hannah
Mrs G Perry-Warnes
Mr R Reynolds
Mr R Shepherd
Mr N Smith
Mrs A Claussen-Reynolds
Mr A Yiasimi
Not Present
Mr R Stevens
Officers in
attendance
The Monitoring Officer
The Democratic Services Team Leader
The Democratic Services Officer
1. TO RECEIVE APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
None.
2. PUBLIC QUESTIONS
None.
3. MINUTES
The Minutes of the Meeting of the Standards Committee held on 10 March 2015 were
approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
4. ITEMS OF URGENT BUSINESS
None.
Standards Committee
1
02 June 2015
5. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Mr B Hannah and Mrs H Cox informed Members that they were also County Councillors.
6. PARISH AND DISTRICT MEMBERS’ REGISTER OF INTEREST AND OFFICER
REGISTER OF GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY
None.
7. THE WORK OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE
The Monitoring Officer explained to Members that he had covered the majority of this in
the Standards Committee training session in the morning. He said that on a meeting to
meeting basis, Members could expect:
Stewardship role:
 Changes in law and standing orders, which overlapped with the work of the
Constitution Working Party.
 They would also be looking to review the Code of Conduct that had been in place
since 2012.
 Promote and maintain high standards of conduct and behaviour.
Outreach with Parish Councils:
 Reports about prospective meetings.
 Engagement and debates on standards issues.
 Prevent complaints cases by promoting best practice.



Complaints and assessments.
Hearing investigation reports.
Making decisions/ conclusions/ accepting findings.
The Monitoring Officer said that the role would also include receiving other information
and updates on standards as a whole such as reports from the “Nolan” Committee
(Committee on Standards in public Life). He added that it was a broad spectrum of work.
The Chairman informed Members that the Monitoring Officer was a solicitor and as well
as being the District Council's Monitoring Officer he was also employed by Norfolk
County Council.
The Chairman said that the work of the Committee could be quite interesting but that
Members may know, or know of, the people involved in the complaints. Issues would be
dealt with on purple papers which meant that the issues were confidential and that it was
essential to respect the privacy of those involved.
Ms V Gay suggested that the confidential part of the agenda should be made more
obvious as an electronic copy did not hold physical purple papers. It was agreed that a
watermark would be added to the pages that were confidential.
The Chairman added that if there was no business there would be no meeting.
Standards Committee
2
02 June 2015
8. APPOINTMENT OF CO-OPTED MEMBERS
The Monitoring Officer informed Members that having co-opted Members on the
Committee was a choice and that previously Members had opted to do this. He said that
the Committee had previously been made up of elected and co-opted Members.
The Chairman said that the item was an open discussion on how they wished to proceed
so that they could take any recommendations to Full Council in July.
Mr B Hannah said that co-opted Members played a very good independent role and
recommended that they continued to work in this manner. He added that co-opted
Members had no voting rights but that they brought another view on topics and were
valuable.
The Chairman said that they had seven independent Members before and that they
were valuable contributors to the work of the committee. She said that they attended the
Wider Engagement Schemes and explained who they were. She added that they
brought a fresh perspective to issues that were potentially very difficult.
Mr R Reynolds voiced his concerns about co-opted Members and the confidential nature
of complaints.
The Monitoring Officer reassured Members that all co-opted Members, like elected
Members, were subject to the Code of Conduct and that confidentiality was expected.
He said that a co-opted Member would be removed from the Committee if they failed to
comply. He said that they had not had any issues in the past and that most independent
people had a background in public life.
The Democratic Services Team Leader informed Members that in the past they had
advertised the positions and that application forms were completed. She said that
previously, a payment had been offered but that this was no longer applicable although
expenses were covered. She said that in 2011 the existing co-opted Members were
asked whether they wished to remain on the Committee.
The Chairman said that she was aware that some of the previously co-opted Members
would be unable to form part of the Committee again. She asked Members how many
co-opted Members they wanted and that in the past the Mayor of Cromer had been a coopted Member but that it depended on the individual's commitments.
Mrs G Perry-Warnes said that a Mayor came from the same sort of environment as the
elected members and suggested that having people outside of the political process
would be beneficial.
Mr R Shepherd said that it seemed sensible to invite as many as possible to apply and
that it would be useful to have the experience of the last committee and that the
additional places should be advertised.
The Monitoring Officer suggested that they advertised the positions on the council's
website. He suggested advising the previous Members about the advert. The Monitoring
Officer said that this would avoid criticism as Members would be looking at a potentially
wider range of applicants.
Standards Committee
3
02 June 2015
Mr Hannah said that there should not be more co-opted Members than elected Members
on the committee.
It was PROPOSED by Cllr Brian Hannah and SECONDED by Cllr Nicholas Coppack
that Members advertise the positions for co-opted Members on the NNDC website.
All AGREED.
9. UPDATE ON DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
The Monitoring Officer explained that previously, no one had been prosecuted in failing
to declare an interest but that the former Leader of a Council had recently been
convicted for failure to declare an interest. He said that these cases would be few and
far between but that they may now occur with greater frequency following this incident.
The Monitoring Officer said that the breach carried serious criminal sanctions and that
compliance was paramount for transparency.
10. UPDATE ON THE ROLE OF THE INDEPENDENT PERSON IN NEW STANDING
ORDERS
The Monitoring Officer informed Members that in the general standing orders an
independent panel had to be convened to give a view on disciplinary actions against the
Chief Executive, the Chief Financial Officer and the Monitoring Officer should it be
needed. The amendment designated the authority's Independent Person and the
Independent Person from another authority for these purposes.
Mr B Hannah asked whether there were a set of standards for officers.
The Monitoring Officer said that this had been proposed in the past and that in Wales it
had been implemented but not in England. He added that it was up to each authority but
that disciplinary issues for staff would be dealt with through Human Resources rather
than through the Standards Committee.
Mr Hannah asked whether this could be looked at.
The Democratic Services Team Leader said that this was already in the Constitution.
The Monitoring Officer said that it was not in the terms of reference for the Standards
Committee.
Ms V Gay asked what attributes were looked for in the Independent Person and what the
requirements and background were.
The Monitoring Officer answered that the Independent Person should not have been a
Member or an officer for five years and that it would be someone who understands the
role and ethics in public life. He said that they needed to be impartial and objective and
prepared to act in breaches of the code but also to act as a mentor to members in some
circumstances.
The Monitoring Officer said that they had interviewed several candidates in 2012 and
that the Independent Person they appointed was clearly an outstanding candidate as he
Standards Committee
4
02 June 2015
had a background in standards and ethics and had been employed by the Standards
Board.
The Monitoring Officer said that other applicants were former local government officers,
business people, former civil servants and were interested in lending time.
The Monitoring Officer said that the current Independent Person's role ended in 2016
and that in 2012 the local authorities across Norfolk had advertised together. He said
that it was the decision for the Committee to look at a new Independent Person and to
set the criteria and job description for the role. The Monitoring Officer said that the
Independent Person would attend and explain his role for Members to fully understand
what it entailed.
The Chairman added that the Independent Person did not attend all of the meetings.
11. PARISH COUNCILS AND STANDARDS: WIDER ENGAGEMENT PHASE 3
The Chairman explained that there was a lot of misunderstanding in parish and town
councils and that clarification was needed; that prevention was better than cure. She
said that they had previously had meetings with individual parishes and held group
sessions; explaining changes to the system - working together had been very beneficial
and they were now looking at stage three.
Mr R Reynolds said that they should add 'respect' to the Nolan principles as Parish
Councils were not always respectful to the District Members.
The Monitoring Officer responded that the councils should already have 'respect' in their
Code of Conduct.
Mr B Hannah said that planning was always an issue with parishes and that engaging
the parishes on this topic was sensible.
The Chairman said that the standards regime had changed and that parish councils had
taken control of determination of sanctions on their own ethical standards cases. She
said that there was little understanding of the planning process.
The Democratic Services Officer informed Members that Phase 1 had been general
standards issues with Phase 2 following up on Planning Forums run by the Corporate
Leadership Team as well as a lot of elections information.
The Democratic Services Officer explained that the sessions had been held in the East,
the West and Centrally and that the last feedback forms showed that parish and town
councils wanted to attend further sessions concerning two topics; planning and freedom
of information requests. She informed Members that she was meeting with the Head of
Planning to discuss this and that planning workshops would enable parish councils to
understand the process from initial application through to Development Committee and
the decisions. The sessions would be interactive and put the attendees in the position of
the planners and Development Committee Members. She said that these ideas had
been previously discussed and that a steer from the current committee was needed.
The Chairman asked Members for their input in Phase 3.
Standards Committee
5
02 June 2015
Mr Reynolds said that he was the Chair of Development Committee and wanted to be
debriefed on the topic by the Democratic Services Officer.
Mr Hannah said that this was a good way to proceed - to educate.
The Chairman said that officers would arrange the dates and meetings and that it was
up to Members whether they attended especially in their wards.
Mr A Yiasimi asked whether he would be able to attend the meetings and it was
confirmed that he could.
The Democratic Services Officer would e-mail Members the details of Phase 3 and add
it to the Bulletin.
It was PROPOSED by Cllr Roy Reynolds and SECONDED by Cllr Brian Hannah
that Phase 3 of the Wider Engagement Schemes should be Planning Workshops
and rolled out across the district in the Autumn.
All AGREED.
12. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
The Monitoring Officer informed Members that this was a standard item on the agenda
and that all meetings, by default, had to be held in public. However, items that disclosed
any personal details were discussed with the public excluded. They also had to be
satisfied that the public interest test was satisfied. He said that Members should in
certain circumstances be able to freely debate items without the public and that it was
unfair to an individual to have information released before the matter was concluded.
13. SUMMARY OF RECENT AND LIVE CASES
The Monitoring Officers said that there had been two recent assessments and that the
first assessment had rejected the complaint and that the second assessment would
come to the Committee.
The Monitoring Officer said that prior to the election there were four live cases. In two of
the cases the subject Members had not been re-elected and so there was no public
benefit to proceeding and the cases were now closed. He said that the other two cases
were still live and that he expected them to be presented at the next meeting.
The next meeting of the Standards Committee was scheduled for 30 June 2015.
The meeting concluded at 14:56pm
___________________________________
Chairman
Standards Committee
6
02 June 2015
Planning Workshops – Autumn 2015
Initial meeting information:
Both the engagement work undertaken by the Standards Committee and the feedback from
the three Parish and Town Forum held last year, have highlighted the need for additional
training for Parish and Town Councils in relation to planning. It therefore makes sense to
combine these two work streams to save on duplication.
The proposal
To hold three events – East, Central and West – as in the past.
The event would be open to Parish Clerks and Councillors.
The purpose would be part presentation, but the focus would be a workshop through case
study – as to how to respond to planning application. Working through development plan
policies, technical consultation responses, and other material planning consideration, to be
able to construct better informed responses to application.
Presentation – as to what happens next, and how District Council determines application.
Nicola Baker, Head of Planning, has been in discussion with the Planning Advisory Service
to see if they can assist with facilitation.
To enable the workshop, it will require high level facilitation, as they require groups to work
through examples.
Agreed Actions

That outcome of this meeting would be shared with the Chief Executive and the
Leader to make sure this matches their expectations.

To look at possible dates for these meeting – end of October/beginning of November.

To book possible venues asap.

To promote events well to ensure a good turnout, to make resource commitment
worthwhile.
7
Standards Phase 3: Registers of Interests and
Declarations of Interests
WEST
EAST
CENTRAL
Fakenham Community Centre
Wednesday 16th September 2015
North Walsham Community Centre
Thursday 17th September 2015
NNDC Council Offices
Monday 21st September 2015
5.45pm: Arrive for refreshments
6.00pm: Introduction and Welcome
Hilary Cox - Chair of Standards Committee
6.05pm: Code of Conduct
David Johnson: Monitoring Officer
6.15pm: Presentation on Register of Interests and Declarations of Interests:
Pecuniary & Non-Pecuniary
David Johnson – Monitoring Officer
6.30pm: Discussion and Questions
7.00pm: Break for refreshments
7.15pm: The Role of the Town and Parish Council
David Johnson – Monitoring Officer
7.30pm: Discussion and Questions
8.00pm: Close
In Attendance:
Hilary Cox, Chair of the Standards Committee
David Johnson, Monitoring Officer
Emma Denny, Democratic Services Team Leader @ NNDC
Lydia Hall, Democratic Services Officer @ NNDC
District Members
Independent Members of the Standards Committee
Democratic Services, NNDC, Holt Road, Cromer, NR27 9EN
8