Agenda and minutes

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any Personal, Disclosable Pecuniary or other interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with Members’ Code of Conduct.

Councillor Jeff Beck declared an interest in Agenda Item (3), and reported that, as his interest was personal and prejudicial, he would not participate in the debate or voting on this matter.

Councillor Anthony Pick declared an interest in Agenda Item (3), and reported that, as his interest was personal and prejudicial he would not participate in the debate or voting on this matter.

Councillors Lee Dillon and Quentin Webb declared an interest in Agenda Item (3), but reported that, as their interest was personal and not prejudicial or a disclosable pecuniary interest, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

Purpose: To consider the Investigator’s report about the complaint in association with:

Newbury Town Council (complainant) in respect of Councillor Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera (subject members) NPC5/14

·         Investigator’s Report                                               3 – 12

·         Original Complaint NPC5/14                                 13 – 16

·         Response from Subject Member                           17 – 20

·         Initial Assessment Notice                                       21 – 24

·         Advisory Panel Decision Notice                           25 – 28

·         Newbury Town Council’s Code of Conduct       29 – 32 

(Councillor Jeff Beck declared a personal and prejudicial interest in Agenda item (3) by virtue of the fact that as a Member of Newbury Town Council Staff Sub-Committee, he was involved with chairing one of the Staff Grievance Committees which had previously considered elements of this complaint. As a consequence he had deemed that it would not be appropriate to participate in this meeting and had tendered his apologies and would therefore not be taking part in the debate or voting on this matter).

(Councillor Anthony Pick declared a personal and prejudicial interest in Agenda item (3) by virtue of the fact that there might be a ‘public perception’ that as a result of his close personal relationship with a member of Newbury Town Council’s Grievance Panel his position on this Committee could be associated with the decisions of the Town Council particularly arising from his role as Mayor during the time of the reported incidents as well as his close relationship with a member of the panel. As a consequence he had deemed that it would not be appropriate to participate in this meeting and had tendered his apologies and would therefore not be taking part in the debate or voting on this matter).

(Councillor Lee Dillon declared a personal interest in Agenda item (3) by virtue of the fact that he was a member of the Liberal Democrat Group and the Subject Member was also a member of that Group. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Quentin Webb declared a personal interest in Agenda item (3) by virtue of the fact that he was he had met the Subject Member on occasions in his role as a Councillor. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

The Committee considered the Investigator’s report (Agenda Item 3) concerning the complaint in respect of Councillor Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera (Subject Member) NPC5/14.

The Independent Investigator, Liz Howlett, introduced her report to the Committee:

Liz Howlett confirmed that originally she had been asked to investigate three complaints about potential breaches of the Code of Conduct of Newbury Town Council. The three complaints were inextricably  linked in context as they had arisen from the same set of events in May 2014. However, following investigation Liz Howlett had concluded that no breach had occurred in respect of complaints NPC4/14 and NPC1/15. In respect of the latter complaint she had found no evidence of any cover up but she advised that concerns which had been raised as part of that complaint regarding the failure to claim under an insurance policy and the lack of a robust procurement process had been well founded.

In respect of complaint NPC5/14 this related to two specific incidents and Liz Howlett had been asked to establish the accuracy of those incidents and to explore the evidence available:

(1)       Did Councillor Uduwerage-Perera  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.