Agenda item

Purpose: To review and amend sections of Part 13 (Codes and Protocols) i.e. Appendices A (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Planning), D (Gifts and Hospitality: A Code of Conduct for Councillors), E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegation) and G (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Licensing) in light of legislative changes, policy changes and recent government guidance.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 6) which set out proposed amendments to sections of Part 13 (Codes and Protocols) i.e. Appendices A (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Planning), D (Gifts and Hospitality: A Code of Conduct for Councillors), E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegation) and G (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Licensing) in light of legislative changes, policy changes and recently issued government guidance.

Andy Day in introducing the report noted that West Berkshire Council’s revised Code of Conduct for Councillors was adopted by full Council at the December 2013 Council meeting. It was therefore now necessary to re-write Appendix E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegations) to reflect the revised governance arrangements and procedures for dealing with complaints made against District, Town and Parish Councillors.

It had also previously been agreed that an annual review of the Council’s Constitution would be undertaken. A timetable has been established for the Finance and Governance Group to review individual sections of the Constitution.  This report proposed amendments to sections of Part 13 (Codes and Protocols) namely: Appendices A (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Planning), D (Gifts and Hospitality: A Code of Conduct for Councillors), E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegations) and G (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Licensing) in light of legislative changes, policy changes and recent government guidance.

The existing Protocol for Planning (Appendix A) and the Protocol for Dealing with Gifts and Hospitality by Councillors (Appendix D) had been substantially re-written and therefore the tracked changes were not been shown on the document.

Appendices D and E had already been considered by the Standards Committee on the 13 January 2014 and they proposed a few minor amendments to Appendix D. The Standards Committee had recommended approval of the two Appendices.

The following key changes had been made to the documents by Officers:

Part 13 Codes and Protocol – Appendix A (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Planning)

·         align this Part of the Constitution with the revisions to the Councillors Code of Conduct (Appendix H to Part 13 of the Constitution) and the Officers’ Code of Conduct as set out in Part 13 of the Constitution.

·         Amended the Code in light of the Localism Act 2011 and the document issued by the Local Government Association entitled “Probity in Planning”. Two particular areas of the Localism Act were relevant to this Code. Firstly, with regard to pre-determination the Act made it clear that it was proper for Councillors to play an active part in local discussions and that they should not be liable to legal challenge as a result, provided they maintained an open mind. Secondly, and related to pre-determination, the act introduced a new requirement for developers to consult local communities before submitting planning applications for certain developments. This gave Councillors and local residents a chance to comment when there was still genuine scope to make changes to proposals at both pre-application and post submission stage.

Part 13 Codes and Protocol – Appendix D (Gifts and Hospitality: A Code of Conduct for Councillors)

·         The document had been substantially re-written with a view to making it easier to read and to ensure it accorded with the revised requirements for declaring interests, gifts and hospitality as set out in the Localism Act 2011.

·         A number of discussions had taken place on the threshold for declaring gifts and hospitality. The Standards Committee had recommended retention of the current £25.00 limit on the basis that Councillors were familiar with this limit.

·         The amended protocol took into consideration changes required following the enactment of the Bribery Act 2010 which came into force on the 01 July 2011 which created offences of ‘bribing another person’ or ‘being bribed’.

·         The revised protocol also gave examples of when it might be appropriate to accept gifts and hospitality.

Part 13 Codes and Protocol – Appendix E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegations)

·         The appendix had been re-written to take into account the revised arrangements pertaining to the Standards Regime adopted at the 01 July 2012 Council meeting and reviewed at the December 2013 meeting.

Part 13 Codes and Protocol – Appendix G (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Licensing)

·         The document had been amended with a view to making it easier to read.

·         The document had been amended to reflect the changes that had recently been made to the Code of Conduct for Councillors, the Code of Conduct for Officers and changes to the protocol associated with gifts and hospitality.

·         The Localism Act 2011 amended requirements in relation to interests that had to be declared and this had been reflected in the document.

·         References to the Standards Board and the old national Code of Conduct had been changed to reflect the current Standards regime.

The following additional changes set out in the table below were also requested at the meeting:

RESOLVED that the amended report would be considered by Full Council on 04 March 2014.