Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

To elect a Chairman of the General Purposes Committee for the 2014/15 municipal year.

It was proposed by Councillor Bayford and seconded by Councillor Wiltshire and AGREED that:

Councillor S Tomlinson be elected Chairman of the General Purposes Committee for the 2014/15 municipal year.

To elect a Vice-Chairman for the General Purposes Committee for the 2014/15 municipal year.

It was proposed by Councillor Wiltshire and seconded by Councillor S Tomlinson and AGREED that:

Councillor King be elected Vice-Chairman of the General Purposes Committee for the 2014/15 municipal year.

'To receive any declarations of interest. Members are advised to consider the advice contained within the Declaration of Interest Form attached at the back of this Agenda. If a Member declares an interest, they should complete that form and hand it to the Officer clerking the meeting and then take the prescribed course of action.'

It was proposed by Councillor Bayford and seconded by Councillor Campbell and AGREED that:

That the public and press be excluded from the meeting for agenda items 6 and 7 as  they contain exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

Minutes to follow.

The meeting was adjourned at 7.15pm for 5 minutes in order to allow the Committee to read the minutes of the previous meeting.

The General Purposes Committee then discussed the minutes of the previous meeting.

“The minutes of the previous meeting were then AGREED and signed as a correct record subject to the following amendments:

That minute 58 be amended to read “A Sub-Committee be created to interview and recommend to Council the permanent Director of Corporate Resources and S151 Officer and Legal Services Manager and Monitoring Officer and that Sub-Committee consists of the Leader of the Labour Group, Leader of the Conservative Group and the Leader of the Largest Independent Group, or their representative.”

That minute 59 be amended to read “All issues raised in Harvey Patterson’s letter to the Members of General Purposes Committee be investigated and a report be brought back to a future General Purposes Committee, except for the matters involved in the two investigations.””

It was then proposed by Councillor Bayford and seconded by Councillor Marson that:

“All future meetings of the General Purposes Committee should be held in the Council Chamber and recorded.”

This Motion was WITHDRAWN.

It was then proposed by Councillor Campbell and seconded by Councillor H Scobie and AGREED that:

“All propositions are put in writing by the proposer and handed to the minute taker”

The Annexes to this report are available to the Members of the Committee in paper format only.

The Members of the General Purposes Committee discussed the report of the Monitoring Officer, the report of the Initial Assessor and the legal advice regarding the report of the Initial Assessor.

It was proposed by Councillor Everitt and seconded by Councillor Campbell and AGREED that:

“The letter from the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives dated 7 May 2014 be sent confidentially to all elected Members of the Council.”

It was proposed by Councillor Campbell and seconded by Councillor Everitt that:

“That no action is taken in respect of the Chief Executive and that the reasons for this are fully explained to Councillor Driver. It is also recommended that advice is given to members and officers about their legal responsibilities as members of outside bodies and how to manage any conflict of interest.”

MOTION LOST

It was then proposed by Councillor Bayford and seconded by Councillor Wiltshire and AGREED that:

“Without implying that there has been any misconduct by the Chief Executive, having regard to the obligations imposed by regulation 7 of the 2001 regulations, also having regard to paragraph 5.13 of Alison Lowton’s report and her disregard of the previous Monitoring Officers allegations that he was approached by the Chief Planning Manager because he felt pressured, it is resolved to appoint a DIP to investigate whether the Chief Executive wanted to make sure that planning officers had all available information; or rather was she intending to direct them as to what recommendation to make; and if the latter, did that amount to misconduct.”

It was then proposed by Councillor Campbell and seconded by Councillor Bayford and AGREED that:

“The appointment of and instruction to the DIP be in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, Councillor Campbell and in conjunction with the Chief Executive and the Monitoring Officer.”