To hear and determine an allegation that a member of the Council has failed to comply with the Council’s Code of Conduct.

(a)  Councillor Harry Smith asked for clarification of the role of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services as legal adviser to the panel given that he had previously expressed an opinion in his reply to an email (dated 7/6/10) seeking clarification on the content of Councillor Smith’s evidence to the Investigating Officer.

Having received advice from the Monitoring Officer, the Chair responded on behalf of the panel indicating that it did not accept that the legal adviser to the panel is prejudiced in continuing to provide advice to the panel.

(b)  Councillor Adrian Jones also expressed his concern regarding the delay in the hearing process. He referred to his casework experience and guidelines indicating that a case should be dealt with as close as possible to its point of origin. He commented that the delay in dealing with this matter had prejudiced his position at the hearing because Councillor Knowles was a candidate in his ward at the May elections. He had therefore decided not give oral evidence and asked for his written evidence to be presented to the panel. 

The Chair responded indicating that the panel considered that it was a matter for Councillor Jones regarding the presentation of his evidence today.

(c) Councillor Ron Abbey stated that he had only received the Investigating Officer’s on 20 October, and had been denied the opportunity to respond to the report until know. He commented that the process was flawed having taken 14 months to reach the hearing stage.

The Chair responded that the panel note that the complainants were afforded the opportunity to make comments on the Investigating Officer’s final report and, as requested by Councillor Abbey, representations made by him have been included in the report and therefore believe that any prejudice has been mitigated.

The Investigating Officer reported that the complainants were given the opportunity to comment on the evidence set out in his report.

This was acknowledged but Councillor Abbey had only seen the final report on 20 October.

Councillor Phil Davies reported that Councillor Abbey’s comments on the draft Monitoring Officer’s report were not included with the complainants’ papers for the hearing and they needed to see all of the documentation.

In the light of the above it was:-

Resolved – That the meeting be adjourned to 9.00 am on Monday 22 November, 2010