To consider an appeal by a subject member.

Summary of exempt proceedings.

Following a full discussion of the complaint which included information provided via confidential papers and verbally from the subject member and the complainant.  

The panel commented that Councillor Kenyon was not the only councillor on the planning and regulatory committee who may have had a close personal association with the person concerned.    Councillor Kenyon’s association only came to light because of his open behaviour in discussing their shared charitable interests.   The panel stressed that there was no “inappropriate contact” but felt that the term within the planning code did need to be clearly defined for the benefit of all councillors.   The panel also felt that the term “close personal association” contained with the code of conduct also needed to be clearly defined, again for the benefit of all councillors.   

The panel made the following recommendations on the issues raised in this complaint.:

RESOLVED

THAT

·         Guidance as to what close personal association (contained within the Herefordshire Council Code of Conduct) needs to be provided by officers so that all councillors were aware

·         Guidance as to what inappropriate contact (contained within the Herefordshire Council planning code) to be provided by officers so that all councillors were aware.

·         it is made clear to anyone subject to a code of conduct complaint, what the process is, rules, and possible outcomes.

·         officers make improvements in the process for collecting evidence on complaints.

·         the chairperson for this panel write to all Herefordshire Council chairpersons and in particular to the chairperson of Planning and Regulatory Committee drawing attention to the need to declare interests where appropriate.

DECISION

The panel upheld the decision of the deputy monitoring officer and found that Councillor J Kenyon, Herefordshire Council, had breached standard B1 in the code of conduct in failing to declare and resolve his interests in accordance with the law and provisions of this code of conduct.

REASONS

The reasons were based on the fact that Cllr Kenyon:

·         had described the person as a  friend; and

·         was involved in the charities he supported when mayor

The sanction of this panel is that Councillor Kenyon receive advice from the monitoring officer to improve understanding of when interests can arise and when to declare them.