Issue - meetings

Regrettably, owing to the pressures of work, Councillor Iain Booth has had to withdraw, with the result that a vacancy persists on the Standards Committee of South Cambridgeshire District Council for a further Parish Council Representative.

South Cambridgeshire District Council's Standards Committee promotes and maintains high standards of conduct within the district council and parish councils and meetings through the Members' Code of Conduct.  The Committee also appoints panels to deal with the assessment of local complaints about the conduct of district or parish councillors, reconsideration of the initial assessment if the complainant appeals a decision, and hearing panels to consider local cases following investigation by a local investigator appointed by the Monitoring Officer, or investigation by the Standards Board for England.

The Standards Committee is comprised of eight district council members, seven members independent of the council and of any political party (lay members), and four parish council members who represent all South Cambridgeshire parish councils and meetings. The present parish council representatives are Mr Bob Bryant (Orwell Parish Council), Mr Michael Farrar (Stapleford Parish Council) and Mr Chris Tomsett (Gamlingay Parish Council) – full contact information, attendance details, registers of interest and links to minutes and agendas are available from the Standards Committee’s website, www.scambs.gov.uk/standards.

Parish council members are elected by South Cambridgeshire parish councils and meetings, all of whom are being asked by this letter if they wish to nominate any of their councillors for the role, with the successful candidate being co-opted onto the Standards Committee by the full District Council.  The closing date for receipt of nominations is Friday 24 September 2010.  If more than one nomination is received, the process will continue to a ballot and all nominees will be asked to provide supporting statements of not more than one side of A4 paper.  The district council will circulate these statements and ballot papers to all parish councils and meetings, and asks that all ballots be returned to the Monitoring Officer at SCDC by Friday 22 October 2010.  The name of the successful candidate will be put to full Council on Thursday 25 December 2010 for co-option onto the Standards Committee.  This timing will ensure that the newly-elected member will be able to attend the ordinary meeting of Standards Committee on 9 December 2010.

A summary of the parish council member role and the election process is given in the SCDC Constitution, Part 2, Article 9: The Standards Committee (copied below), and a more detailed overview of the Standards Committee and the role of the parish council member is enclosed.  Please note that the list of experiences, knowledge, skills and competencies given at the end of this document is information of those areas which may be helpful in this role, and does not represent a definitive list of qualifications for the position.

Parish Members

·                      At least one Parish Member must be present when matters relating to parish councils or their members are being considered;

·                      Parish Members will be entitled to vote at meetings on matters relating to the discharge of the Standards Committee's functions;

·                      A district councillor may not be a Parish Member

·                      Parish Members may not be closely connected to district councillors

·                      The Parish Members shall be nominated by parish councils at their annual parish council meeting, nominations to include a statement supporting the candidate, not exceeding one side of A4 paper. In the case of more than the requisite number being nominated by the deadline set, the candidates’ statements will be sent with a voting paper to all parish councils in the District and the votes received by the deadline set will determine the candidates to be elected

·                      In the event of a tied vote, the position will be filled by the Monitoring Officer drawing lots

·                      A clear and strict deadline will be set for both receipt of nominations and, if a vote is required, voting slips. These deadlines will apply equally to all parish councils, including those of existing or retiring Parish Members

I would like to request formally that an item on nominations to this vacancy be added to your next available meeting agenda.  If you haven't any meetings scheduled between now and the closing date for receipt of nominations on Friday 24 September 2010, you could survey members of your council or meeting by telephone, letter and / or e-mail, and respond to the Monitoring Officer with the nominee's name and contact information.

In order to give everyone as much time as possible to review the nominations, we ask that all clerks return their nominee's or nominees' supporting statement(s) along with notice of their parish council or parish meeting's nomination.  This way we can issue all the ballots and supporting statements as soon as possible after the nominations deadline of 24 September.  Notice of nomination and the supporting statement(s) can be sent by e-mail to monitoring.officer@scambs.gov.uk, faxed to 01954 713149 or posted to the Monitoring Officer, care of SCDC.

If you haven't any parish council meetings scheduled between the close of nominations and the ballot return deadline of 22 October 2010, you could survey the parish councillors by telephone, letter and / or e-mail, and return the ballot paper marked with the parish council's majority view – the ballot does not need to be completed at a formal meeting.  All clerks will have been provided with the candidates' supporting statements as soon as possible after the nominations deadline of 24 September, so there are four weeks to disseminate the information and prepare your parish council or meeting's response.  In the case of a tied vote amongst your parish councillors, please follow your own agreed procedures, such as Chairman's casting vote or drawing names from a hat.

There will be only one ballot provided to each parish council / meeting, which is to be used to indicate the majority view of the parish council / meeting.  Please use only the ballot provided by SCDC and do not make additional copies for those councillors who did not support the majority view.

If you have any questions, please contact Democratic Services on 01954 713030, by e-mail to democratic.services@scambs.gov.uk, or by post to Democratic Services, care of SCDC.

Membership of the Standards Committee is not subject to political proportionality, but it must meet the following requirements as set out in Article 9 of the Council’s Constitution:

·                      Must have at least 6 District Council members (serving four-year terms);

·                      No more than one Executive Member may be appointed;

·                      The Committee should include representatives from all groups represented on the Council and should be constituted so that no one group dominates;

·                      District Council appointments must have the support of the full Council

The current district council members of the Standards Committee are:

The four-year terms of Councillor Alex Riley (Independent) and former Councillor Susan van de Ven (Liberal Democrat) expired in May 2010.  Council, on 22 May 2008, agreed to appoint Councillor Sandra Doggett (Independent) to the Standards Committee, until May 2012 or until she was no longer a member of the Council.  Due to Dr van de Ven’s retirement and Mrs Doggett not being re-elected at the May 2010 local elections, Council is asked to consider the total number of District Council appointments to Standards Committee to ensure that the above criteria are met, and to make such District Council member appointments.

RECOMMENDATION

That Council appoint at least one District Council member to the Standards Committee for 2010-14, in accordance with the above requirements.

Council RESOLVED that Councillors Alex Riley and Jim Stewart be appointed District Council Members of the Standards Committee for four-year terms from 2010 to 2014.

Council RESOLVED that Councillors Alex Riley and Jim Stewart be appointed District Council Members of the Standards Committee for four-year terms from 2010 to 2014.