Agenda and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting which took place on 27 September 2021 (to be laid on the table 30 minutes before the meeting commences).

The minutes of the meeting from 27 September were agreed to be an accurate record.

To receive from Members, declarations of interests in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting in accordance with the Waverley Code of Local Government Conduct.

There were no disclosures of interest relating to matters on the agenda.

The Chairman to respond to any written questions received from Members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for receipt of questions is Monday 29 November 2021.

There were no questions by members of the public.

The Chairman to respond to any written questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.

The deadline for receipt of questions is Monday 29 November 2021.

There were no questions by members of the council.

On 1 February 2021 the Standards Committee considered proposed revisions to the arrangements for how the Monitoring Officer deals with complaints against councillors or co-opted Members, alleging a breach of their Code of Conduct. The arrangements apply to complaints against Waverley Borough councillors and co-opted Members, and to complaints against Town and Parish councillors within Waverley.

The Standards Committee was broadly supportive of the proposed revisions to the arrangements but asked that parish councils and the Independent Persons be given the opportunity to comment on the changes before they were recommended to Full Council for approval. The consultation took place over the summer and feedback was received from three parish clerks and three Independent Persons.

The arrangements for how the Monitoring Officer deals with standards complaints now reflect the feedback received and are presented to the Committee (at Annexe 1) for consideration and recommendation to Full Council for approval.

Recommendation

That the Standards & General Purposes Committee considers the revised arrangements under which the Monitoring Officer will investigate an allegation of a breach of the code, and recommends them to Full Council for approval, with or without further amendments.

This item was introduced by Robin Taylor as the Head of Policy and Governance and Monitoring Officer.  The procedure for dealing with code of conduct complaints was looked at earlier in 2021 but the Monitoring Officer had been asked to look at it further with particular reference to consultation with Parish Councils and the Independent Person.  He had also attended a Town and Parish Council liaison meeting to talk through the proposals and hear feedback.  There were two areas of feedback:

·         That complaints about town and parish councillors should only be considered by the Monitoring Officer if the Town or Parish Clerk has been unable to resolve the issue within 28 days

·         There were comments about the tone of the arrangements.  The Independent person felt it was odd that the arrangements addressed the complainant directly rather than using a more neutral tone

On the first point, some Town and Parish Councils were very keen on the idea whilst others felt strongly that the Monitoring Officer needed to be involved.  The Monitoring Officer stated that the intention had been to ensure that the Town and Parish Councils hadn’t felt excluded not to force the issue onto them.  Paragraph 3.5 on page 15 -16 of the papers was the attempt to resolve these points.

On the second point, the Monitoring Officer agreed on reflection that the arrangements ought to have a neutral voice.

Some of the Committee felt the order of the document was confusing with the Executive Summary at the start as this would not be as helpful for those who were unfamiliar with the process and needed to understand what it was about.  They felt the preamble should be first because otherwise technical terms were introduced without being explained.  The Monitoring Officer was happy for this to happen.

Some also felt it was important that Town and Parish Clerks were seen to remain neutral and that ultimate responsibility lay with the Monitoring Officer.

There was a question about whether in 4.9c “works closely with the councillor they are complaining about” included a fellow Councillor.  The Monitoring Officer said it could refer to a Councillor but he had been thinking more of Officers.  He referenced paragraph 3.4 where it stated that issues between Councillors would initially be referred to the appropriate group leader.  If it was judged to be vexatious, the Monitoring Officer would dismiss it upfront.  Councillors commented that reference to group leaders would only work at Waverley and not at the Town or Parish Councils.  The Monitoring Officer said that in these cases he would be speaking to the Town or Parish Clerk.

There was a further question in relation to 4.4f in relation to the types of complaint which would not be considered where the person complained about was no longer a councillor.  It was asked what happened if the person resigned during the process.  The Monitoring Officer said a judgement would have to be made by him at that point about whether the case was closed.  Once  ...  view the full minutes text for item STD 13/21

To consider a request for an amendment to the Scheme of Delegation regarding approval of variations to S106 agreements attached to planning permissions.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Standards & General Purposes Committee considers the request to make an exception to the delegation (M.2) to the Head of Planning & Economic Development and makes an appropriate recommendation to Full Council.

The Monitoring Officer explained that the proposed amendment had come about due to an application which had gone before the Eastern Planning Committee in September 2021 and a comment from Cllr Maxine Gale on 19 October 2021 that consideration be given to amending the Scheme of Delegation to Officers to ensure that any application to change or amend previously agreed housing tenure splits are automatically referred to the appropriate Planning Committee and not dealt with under delegated powers. 

Delegation M.2 already requires the Head of Planning & Economic Development to consult with the Chairman of the relevant Planning Committee and Ward Councillor(s) before agreeing to any variation to a Section 106 agreement attached to a planning permission granted by a Planning Committee.  The Committee was asked to consider whether an explicit exception was required to the delegation set out in M.2 to agree variations except where the variation proposed relates to the proposed tenure mix of the affordable housing provision.

The Monitoring Officer did suggest that the issue of the Scheme of Delegation was looked at as part of a wider constitutional review.

The Leader of the Council spoke on this item and said he thought having the above exception in would be a good thing.  He noted the unanimous strength of feeling at the above mentioned Eastern Planning Committee and the fact that Corporate Priorities mean that where there is an attempt at a dramatic change in the tenure mix, it should come to Committee.

There was a question as to whether if something were delegated to officers it prevented them bringing it to committee if they thought it was appropriate, particularly if it was likely to be very controversial.  The Monitoring Officer confirmed that Officers could bring items to Committee where they thought it was appropriate. 

RESOLVED

That the Standards and General Purposes Committee recommends to Full Council that an exception to the Scheme of Delegation is made in respect of M.2.