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Protocol for Member/Officer Relations ---
01 Feb 2010
Last Thursday night at Full Council we voted on a new protocol which sets out standards for Member/Officer relation.
Protocol for Member/Officer Relations
Protocol for Member/Officer Relations
I would like to tell a story of why this policy came into being.
Whessoe Road Site next to Drinkfield Marsh.
FACTS
We notified the council on 21/8/08 that residents were concerned with work taking place on this site (opposite the marsh and Harrowgate Farm).
The council were already aware of this site which has a long history and there were ongoing investigations dating back a number of years.
WHAT WE WERE TOLD
We were aware that a meeting was to be arranged by officers of the council, the Environment Agency, Planning and Community Services Department to discuss enforcement issues as the planning permissions dating back a number of years are not now legally applicable. We presumed that this meeting would be conducted by officers as “normal” council business that happens everyday in Town Halls across the country and that feedback would be given from officers to ward members. This normal council business conducted by officers as their role demands.
WHAT HAPPENED
A meeting took place in our ward with the Environment Agency, the land owner, Planning and Community Services Department where we as ward councillors were not present, however the Labour ward member and the portfolio members were both present. We had been knowingly and deliberately excluded from a very important multi agency meeting about an ongoing ward issue, which we knew about and were heavily involved with.
RIGHTS OF ELECTED MEMBERS
What does the Councils Constitution Say?
The constitution says “whenever a consultation is organised by the council to consider local issues, all the members representing that ward or wards should be involved”
The role of members and we quote again from the Council constitution is “to represent their constituents”
WHAT TO DO?
We feel so passionately about our role as ward councillors and we will not let anything get in our way us being effective in this role, it is what people who voted for us rightly expect.
Having had a previous experience of being excluded from our ward business, we felt it right to act and after much soul searching and deliberation we decided last year to make a complaint.
THE OUTCOME
After an internal invesigation by the Monitoring Officer our complaint was NOT upheld. This means that the council does not think it is wrong to exclude ward councillors from ward business.
Readers need to draw their own conclusions about a system where this is a two tier system of information sharing!
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