Agenda and minutes

3.1             The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was taken as read. 

4.1             Apologies for absence were received from Borough Councillor M G Sztymiak and Independent Person Mr P Kimber.

5.1             The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 26 June 2012 and took effect from 1 July 2012.

5.2             There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To consider the report of the Monitoring Officer on any applications received.   

6.1             Attention was drawn to the report of the Monitoring Officer, circulated at Pages No. 1-3, which asked the Committee to determine any applications for dispensation which had been made by Members of the Borough Council in order to enable them to participate in the matter of the approval of the business to be considered at the meeting of the Council on 28 June 2016.

6.2             The Monitoring Officer explained that, at its meeting on 28 June 2016, Tewkesbury Borough Council would consider the Inspector’s Interim Report on the Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy.  Members would be asked to comment on the findings to date and give Officers authority to report back to the Inspector.  It was noted that this was an informal stage in the Plan process which was not normally required; the next stage would be to agree any modifications to the Plan. 

6.3             The Monitoring Officer had provided advice to all Members of the Council to enable them to consider whether they had any interests which may, in accordance with Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Code of Members’ Conduct, preclude their participation at the Council meeting.  She explained that responsibility for the determination of applications for dispensation had been delegated to her where the application was made on the grounds that (a) without the dispensation the number of persons prohibited from participating in any particular business would be so great a proportion of the body transacting the business as to impede the transaction of the business; and (b) without the dispensation the representation of different political groups on the body transacting any particular business would be so upset as to alter the likely outcome of any vote relating to the business. In this instance, the dispensations had been brought before the Committee as there were additional grounds upon which only the Standards Committee could decide, namely, whether the granting of the dispensation was in the interests of persons living in the authority’s area.

6.4             It was noted that dispensations must be granted for a set period of time of up to four years and, when the Committee had last undergone this process in April 2014, the dispensations had been agreed for one year, to coincide with the end of the Council term.  Given the length of the Joint Core Strategy process, it was suggested that any dispensations granted by the Committee at its present meeting were done so on the basis that they stay in place until the end of the current Council term, provided that they remained unchanged.  The Monitoring Officer stressed that, whilst those particular dispensations would not be considered until the end of the period, if granted, other interests may emerge which required further applications.

6.5             In response to a Member query regarding the Council meeting the following evening, the Monitoring Officer confirmed that there were three recommendations: to note the Inspector’s Interim Report; to agree that Joint Core Strategy Officers attend the July hearings to discuss the Interim Report and the recommended way  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.