Agenda item

Independent Member Visits to Town and Community Councils

To plan and prepare for Independent Member Visits to Town and Community Councils

Decision:

(a) That it be approved that officers draw up a list of Town and Community

Councils and their meeting dates for 2022/23 to send out to Independent

Members for them to select which Town and Community Council meetings they are to attend;

(b) That Town and Community Councils be written to explaining that the

process of visits will be undertaken again in 2022/23;

Independent members of the Committee is based on workload of the

Committee, except where urgent issues need to be fed back and these will

be placed on the agenda for the next meeting;

(d) That Members undertaking visits to Town and Community Councils take

written notes that are suitable to be disclosed and circulated as feedback

to Town and Community Councils upon request; and

(e) That Members inform the Monitoring Officer of a visit to a Town or

Community Council and send their written notes of the visit to him, as soon

as possible, after a visit has taken place, for the purposes of agenda

planning for the Committee.

Minutes:

The Deputy Monitoring Officer presented the report to plan and prepare for Independent Member visits to Town and Community Councils . He provided background information and advised that at the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 10January 2022, it was agreed that a new cycle of visits would be arranged following local government elections in May 2022. At the subsequent meeting of the Committee on 6June 2022 it was agreed that this would feature as an item on the forward work programme.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer explained that the suggested guidelines to be adopted during visits were outlined in section 1.04 of the report. He also referred to the previous practice following the visits undertaken that Independent Members provided the Democratic Services Team with a copy of any notes taken for background information and also provided verbal feedback at the meeting.

In response to a request from Gill Murgatroyd, the Chair and Officers explained that generic feedback was provided for consistency to Town and Community Councils following visits and specific feedback provided if requested.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer responded to the request by David Davies for clarification on procedures to be followed by Independent Members if confidential items were considered during visits to Town and Community Council meetings. Councillor Andrew Parkhurst also asked whether Independent Members should or should not be present during consideration of confidential items at Town and Community Council meetings. In response the Deputy Monitoring Officer referred to the remit/purpose of the Independent Member visits which was to observe procedures, and promote standards of conduct in compliance with the Code of Conduct.

In response to a query from Mark Morgan and David Davies regarding payment of allowances and expenses for attendance at Town and Community Council meetings, the Monitoring Officer said he would raise this matter at the next meeting of Monitoring Officers to be held this week and would provide feedback to the Committee.

Recommendation (1) in the report was moved by David Davies and seconded by Mark Morgan.

Recommendation (2) in the report was moved by Jacqueline Guest and seconded by Gill Murgatroyd.

Recommendation (3) in the report was moved by Mark Morgan and seconded by David Davies.

Recommendation (4) in the report was moved by Gill Murgatroyd and seconded by Councillor Teresa Carberry.

Recommendation (5) in the report was moved by David Davies and seconded by Mark Morgan.

RESOLVED: