Agenda item

Schedule prepared by the Monitoring Officer.

The Monitoring Officer will report verbally on the latest position with regard to the complaints listed and any issues arising from them.

The Monitoring Officer submitted a schedule summarising complaints of alleged breaches of the Council’s Code of Conduct which were currently being processed or had been completed since the last report to the Standards Committee. The Monitoring Officer said that brief details of each of the complaints were included in the schedule.  She provided further information to the Committee at the meeting, as follows:

Ref: 2016/18

A Standards hearing had been held the previous day to consider a complaint made by Cllr Rita Hewitt against Cllr Terry Rogers.

The Panel had concluded that Fleetwood Town Council had used its Standing Order relating to disruption of meetings inappropriately, but did not find that Councillor Terry Rogers had breached the Councillors Code of Conduct.

In light of this finding, the Panel had recommended that the following actions be taken:

·         That Members of the Town Council receive training on the Council’s Standing Orders.

·         That it be minuted at a future Town Council meeting that Standing Order 29 had been used inappropriately on 3 previous occasions.

·         That Standing Order 29 should be reviewed by the Town Council with a view to making it clearer and to remove any ambiguities.

·         That the Town Council give consideration to arranging mediation between Councillor Rogers and Councillor Hewitt.

The decision letter to be sent to both parties would also indicate that any future complaints from either party concerning each other’s behaviour would not be considered. Such complaints would be put on hold until the mediation recommended by the Standards Committee at the hearing had been satisfactorily completed.

Ref: 2017/04

A Standards hearing had been held the previous day to consider a complaint made by four Wyre Councillors against Cllr Evelyn Stephenson. The Standards Committee had accepted the Investigating Officer’s findings and concluded that the behaviour of Councillor Evelyn Stephenson at the Planning Committee meeting on 5 July 2017, at which applicants, objectors and members of the public were present, had failed the meet her requirement to “promote and support high standards of conduct when serving in your public post” and that she had therefore breached the Council’s Code of Conduct.

The Panel had decided to recommend to Cllr E Stephenson that she agree to the following wording being included on the agenda for a future meeting of the Planning Committee:

“At the Planning Committee on 5 July 2017 I made some comments in relation to the Fleetwood Pier application. As you will no doubt recall, it was a very controversial meeting which was noisy, heated and emotional.  I was very much aware of the strength of public feeling in Fleetwood about the impact the proposed development would have and having heard the debate felt passionately that it should have been refused. However, a Panel of Standards Committee Members has now informed me that some of my behaviour at that meeting amounted to a breach of the Councillors Code of Conduct.

I apologise for that breach.”

Ref: 2017/05

An initial investigation had been completed and the complainants have been updated. However, additional questions had been raised by the complainants and these were currently being considered. 

Ref: 2017/06

An initial investigation has been completed and the complainants have been updated. However, additional questions had been raised by the complainants and these were currently being considered. 

Ref: 2017/09

There was nothing further to report on this case at this moment in time.

Ref: 2018/01

There was nothing further to report on this case at this moment in time.

RESOLVED:

That the summary of current complaints submitted by the Monitoring Officer and her verbal report on each of the complaints referred to, be noted.