Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Fisher and Wheeler who had absented themselves from the meeting following discussions with the Head of Legal Services having both submitted dispensations for consideration at this meeting.

None declared.

To consider the report of the Monitoring Officer and to determine applications for dispensation.

Applications for dispensation have been received from Councillors Bernie Fisher, Tim Harman, Klara Sudbury, Simon Wheeler and Colin Hay.

The Head of Legal Services introduced the report which had been circulated with the agenda.  The report was seeking determination by this committee of applications made by Members of the Borough Council who were also Gloucestershire County Councillors in order that they if

could  participate in the business to be conducted at the special meeting of the Council on 5 September 2013. The special meeting would be considering a report recommending approval of a draft Joint Core Strategy (JCS) for the purpose of public consultation. The plan included provision for housing and employment land some of which was currently owned by Gloucestershire County Council.

The Democratic Services Manager confirmed that all dual members had been contacted by e-mail by the Borough Solicitor and five dispensation requests had been received. Those for Councillor Tim Harman and Councillor Bernard Fisher had been circulated with the agenda and three more for Councillors Klara Sudbury, Simon Wheeler and Colin Hay had been circulated at the start of the meeting. Councillors Paul McLain and Suzanne Williams had given their apologies for the Council meeting on Thursday and no response had been received from Councillors David Prince or Chris Coleman. She agreed to follow this up with those councillors to ensure they had received the email and were aware of the timescales for submitting their requests.

The Head of Legal Services referred members to the potential grounds for granting dispensation which were set out in paragraph 2.1 of the report. He confirmed that all the dispensations being considered by the committee today were on the basis of 2.1c) i.e granting the dispensation is in the interests of persons living in the authority's area.

He emphasised that the Standards Committee had  absolute discretion but should be able to justify any decision they made. Should they be minded to grant dispensations, they were also required to determine the period for whichthe dispensation has affect. As set out in paragraph 3.2, the period specified may not exceed four years. He advised members that as the JCS progresses, the context of members potential interests may change and therefore the committee may want to take this into account when setting the period. He suggested that three to four months may be suitable. The committee may also wish to consider tying in any grant of dispensation to this stage of the JCS process.

Regarding any possible late applications, he invited members to consider delegating authority to the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer for granting dispensations to any other county council members submitting a late application provided it was on the same principles agreed today.

A Member referred to a plot of land in Leckhampton owned by the County Council with significant value to developers. They questioned whether it was appropriate for members of the County Council to sit on a Borough Council committee making decisions about this land.

The Head of Legal Services referred members to paragraph 3.3 of the report. Regarding members of the County Council, it was likely  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Friday 11 October at 2 pm

The next meeting would be held at 2 pm on Friday 11 October 2013.