Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Fisher, Hay, Williams and Mr Duncan Chittenden.

Councillors Harman and Wilkinson declared an interest in as far as they had applied for dispensations for the Extraordinary JCS Council meeting to be held on 30 June.

To approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 7 July 2015

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2015 were approved and signed as a correct record.

To determine any applications for dispensations which may be made by Cheltenham Borough Councillors

The Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer introduced the report which had been circulated with the agenda.  The report was seeking determination by the Standards Committee of applications made by Members of the Borough Council in order that they could participate in the business to be conducted at the Extraordinary meeting of the Council on 30 June 2016. The Extraordinary meeting would be considering the Inspector’s Interim Report on the Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy (JCS).  She emphasised that this was not a formal stage in the JCS process but would provide officers with Members’ views regarding the Inspector’s report before the next formal stage of the process in September. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that she had provided advice to all Members of the Council to enable them to consider whether they had any interests which may, in accordance with the Cheltenham Borough Council Code of Members’ Conduct, preclude their participation at the Council meeting. She asked Members of the Standards Committee to consider, when granting dispensations, the duration of the dispensation.

The Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer highlighted the significance to the future of the Borough of the JCS in terms of housing, employment, transport and infrastructure and therefore there was an expectation that Councillors would undertake a representational role. She referred Members to Section 2 of the report which set out the grounds upon which dispensations may be granted and Members were asked to consider whether the applications submitted met one of these criteria. The Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer referred Members to Appendix B of the Code – “Other Interests” and said these categories had been adopted locally but were not statutory. She highlighted that these were interests in which members of the public were often exercised. However, it was discretionary and Members should not be constrained unnecessarily.

In terms of the duration of any dispensations the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer suggested that the JCS would be subject to further discussion over the coming months. As there would be statutory stages for the adoption of the plan next year she asked members to consider granting dispensations for a two year period up until the May 2018 election. She highlighted however that any dispensation granted would only relate to those interests claimed in the current application. If interests changed or new ones emerged which would affect participation, these would need to be the matter of further advice/application for dispensation as necessary.

When asked what the process was for ensuring that any changes to members’ interests were registered, the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer said the responsibility lay with each individual Councillor. Members were sent a reminder every two months to update their Register of Interests which was intended to act as a trigger to register any new ones. However, prior to a significant item being considered by the Council, such as those on the JCS, current practice is to send advice to Members to remind them of the need to specifically consider any interest which could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

RESOLVED

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the remaining items of business as it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the public are present there will be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraph 1, Part 1. Schedule 12 A( as amended) Local Government Act 1972, namely :

Paragraph 1 : Information relating to any individual

To approve the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2015

The exempt minutes of the meeting held on 7 July were approved and signed as a correct record.

The next scheduled meeting is on Wednesday 13 July at 2 pm

Wednesday 13 July 2016-this would be potentially a training session