To receive any declarations of interest from members of the Executive Board.
Decision:
NOTED declarations of interest from Executive Board members.
Minutes:
The following declarations of interest were made:
· Professor Allmendinger declared a non-pecuniary interest in relation to agenda item 10 [Milton Road and Histon Road Improvements] as a resident of Gilbert Road. He also referred to those items set out in his published register of interests.
· Councillor Ian Bates indicated he had no interests to declare, other than those set out in his published register of interests.
· Councillor Lewis Herbert declared a non-pecuniary interest in relation to item 13 [Cross City Cycling] as he was a resident of Hills Road and the report contained proposals to introduce a Traffic Regulation Order in that area. He also referred to other matters referred to in his published Register of Interests.
· Councilor Francis Burkitt referred to his declaration made at the meeting on 13th October 2016; which he intended to repeat as it was the beginning of a new civic year, but did not intend to repeat in future. His Register of Interests was lodged with South Cambridgeshire District Council and was available for viewing on its website. He had no other matters to declare, had not predetermined on any matter and intended to participate in the discussion on all agenda items. Councillor Burkitt was of the view, however, that it was good practice to remind people of the following items which he, the Legal Officer and the Chief Executive felt were 'interests' that would not disbar him from participating in discussions, including that on the Cambourn to Cambridge busway scheme:
- he was a District Councillor for Coton and Madingley, villages through which that busway may or may not go and therefore knew many people in those villages;
- when the Cambourne to Cambridge public consultation was launched, and in his capacity as a District Councillor, he coordinated and published a response to the public consultation that was branded as CambridgeBOLD. At that time he was a Member of the City Deal Joint Assembly, which was an advisory body with no decision-making powers. When he became a Board Member, with decision-making powers, he ceased doing any CambridgeBOLD work, and the initiative lapsed at that time and effectively ceased to exist, except that it remained on public record as one of the consultation responses;
- he was a Member of Cambridge Past, Present and Future, was a patron and had been a Board Member for four years. This organisation owned the Coton Countryside Reserve and, separately, some of the field in Coton adjacent to Cambridge Road that stretched up the hill;
- he had been at Trinity College Cambridge and had sat on its Finance Committee, with the College owning Moor Barns Farm in Madingley;
- he and his employer had undertaken work as a debt advisor to the University and certain colleges. In 2012 his employer advised the University on a £350 million bond issue and in 2013 it advised 17 colleges on a £150 million debt private placement, for which the firm received fees. These transactions were in the public domain and he was part of the team providing this advice. The firm had no retainer, or ongoing relationship or work with the University or colleges, or any expectation of future work; and
- he was born in Cambridge and had lived there on and off for most of his life, so he naturally knew lots of people who lived along the Cambourne to Cambridge corridor.