Agenda item

Standing in the name of Councillor Heather Williams

This council recognises that the minutes relating to private meetings can be made available to the public if the grounds for exclusion of the meeting no longer apply. This council will seek to share the minutes of meetings wherever possible and will only keep them confidential as an absolute last resort, recognising that it is to the public that we are accountable and it is in the public’s interest that we are as open and transparent as possible.

 

Decision:

Council Agreed the following motion.

 

This Council recognises that the minutes relating to private meetings of this Council and its Committees can be made available to the public if the grounds for exclusion of the meeting no longer apply. This Council recognises the importance of openness and transparency and will share the minutes of meetings wherever possible in accordance with the provisions of the law and the constraints of commercial confidentiality.

Minutes:

Councillor Heather Williams and Councillor Graham Cone accepted the following amendment proposed by Councillor Neil Gough

 

This Council recognises that the minutes relating to private meetings can be made available to the public if the grounds for exclusion of the meeting no longer apply. This council will seek to share the minutes of meeting wherever possible and will only keep them confidential as an absolute last resort, recognising that it is to the public that we are accountable and it is in the public’s interest that we are as open and transparent as possible. This Council recognises the importance of openness and transparency and will share the minutes of meetings wherever possible in accordance with the provisions of the law and the constraints of commercial confidentiality. 

 

Councillor Heather Williams explained that she was being pragmatic when accepting this amendment and she still supported the original wording. She expressed her disquiet at the increase in the number of meetings going into private session and saw no reason why minutes should remain confidential after the decision had been taken and implemented. Councillor Graham Cone echoed Councillor Heather Williams’ views and expressed his disappointment that the original motion had been “watered down.”

 

Councillor Neil Gough thanked Councillor Heather Williams and Councillor Cone for accepting the amendment. He agreed that the Council should be open and transparent but added that the authority needed to comply with the law. It was for this reason that he had proposed the amendment, to allow each case to be judged separately and ensure that the public interest was not harmed by publicly sharing minutes that included information that was still commercially sensitive.

 

Councillor John Williams explained that the increase in the number of investments made by the Council had necessitated an increase in the number of times meeting had gone into confidential session due to the commercial sensitivity of the decisions being taken. He added that a majority of the Councillors present had to agree to take the meeting into private session.

 

Councillor Deborah Roberts expressed her opposition to the amendment, which she felt negated the motion. She suggested that by keeping the minutes confidential the current administration could avoid publicising any mistakes made in their dealings with commercial developers when spending public funds.

 

Councillor Nigel Cathcart supported the amended motion which championed openness and transparency, whilst recognising the need to occasionally keep discussions confidential to allow officers and councillors to speak openly. However, he expressed concern that the wording was vague and implied that more meetings went into private session, when the vast majority of meetings remained in public session.

 

Councillor Tom Bygott supported the motion but expressed his disappointment with the amendments. He called on the Council’s leaders to pledge to make all minutes public when they no longer needed to be confidential. This could assure the public that developers were being held to the terms that they agreed with the authority.

 

Councillor Heather Williams and Councillor Graham Cone accepted the following additional amendment proposed by Councillor Dr Richard Williams to add the words “of this Council and its Committees” after the words “private meetings” in the first sentence of the motion to ensure that the motion only applied to the Council’s committees. In response to concerns that the motion would now apply to the Committee’s sub-groups, the Deputy Head of Legal stated that in his opinion the motion would only apply to Committees of the Council as defined by the Local Government Act 1972.

 

Upon the motion being put, a vote was taken and were cast as follows:

 

In favour (25):

 

Councillors Henry Batchelor, John Batchelor, Paul Bearpark, Shrobona Bhattacharya, Anna Bradnam, Tom Bygott, Dr Martin Cahn, Graham Cone, Clare Delderfield, Peter Fane, Neil Gough, Sally Ann Hart, Dr Tumi Hawkins, Pippa Heylings, Mark Howell, Tony Mason, Brian Milnes, Judith Rippeth, Dr Ian Sollom, Dr Aidan Van de Weyer, Bunty Waters, Dr Richard Williams, Heather Williams, John Williams and Nick Wright

 

Against (0)

 

Abstain (2):

 

Councillors Nigel Cathcart and Deborah Roberts

 

Council Agreed the following motion.

 

This Council recognises that the minutes relating to private meetings of this Council and its Committees can be made available to the public if the grounds for exclusion of the meeting no longer apply. This Council recognises the importance of openness and transparency and will share the minutes of meetings wherever possible in accordance with the provisions of the law and the constraints of commercial confidentiality.