Parish Council meeting, 9 May

The next scheduled meeting of the Parish Council will be held next Tuesday, starting at 7.00 pm in the Village Hall. We have requested of the Parish Clerk that the matter of the housing development proposed by Lanpro be included in the agenda of that meeting.

Mr Patrick Allen is the Vice Chair of the Parish Council and has unofficially disclosed that he has a pecuniary interest in the proposed development.

Section 31 of the Localism Act, 2011, requires him to recuse himself at that meeting from all discussion of the proposed development. He may not ‘(a) participate, or participate further, in any discussion of the matter at the meeting, or (b) participate in any vote, or further vote, taken on the matter at the meeting, but this is subject to section 33.’ Section 33 deals with dispensation from this requirement, which as far as we are aware has not been issued.

The Local Government Association has issued a ‘Model Councillor Code of Conduct’ for the guidance of its members. This document is available [pdf] on the NNDC website, which implies that NNDC expects its councillors, and by extension the parish councillors over whom it exercises authority, to observe its terms. In Appendix B we find the following directive:

4. Where a matter arises at a meeting which directly relates to one of your Disclosable Pecuniary Interests as set out in Table 1, you must disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not remain in the room unless you have been granted a dispensation. If it is a ‘sensitive interest’, you do not have to disclose the nature of the interest, just that you have an interest. Dispensation may be granted in limited circumstances, to enable you to participate and vote on a matter in which you have a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Table 1 includes as a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest ‘Any beneficial interest in land which is within the area of the council.’

Thus we expect Mr Allen to leave the room when the subject of the proposed development comes under discussion.

A meeting of the Parish Council is a public event. Anyone may attend and observe, and there is a 15-minute period when the Council takes questions from members of the public. We suggest that everyone interested in the development proposal should attend. The Chair has the right summarily to close the meeting if it becomes rowdy, and so we (unnecessarily, we are sure!) urge those present to behave with the restraint and decorum that so characterise those of us lucky enough to live in Langham.