The Committee received the report of the Monitoring Officer (MO) which set out brief details of the Code of Conduct (CoC) complaints received since the last meeting  and advised the Committee of other standards related matters that had been dealt with since the Committee’s last meeting.

Since the last meeting there had been three valid CoC complaints made against three District Councillors, all concerning the use of social media during the recent election campaign for the Bexhill Town Council.  As the CoC only applied when Members were acting in their official capacity, this often presented a significant grey area in the context of social media where the line between acting in an official or in a private capacity could be a difficult one to draw and further guidance was considered beneficial in the future. The view of one of the Council’s Independent Persons was sought and concurred with the MO’s proposed action in each case; details of each case were provided at Appendix 1 to the report. The outcome of the complaint against a District Councillor that was referred for investigation in the previous year had concluded since the last meeting and was also included at Appendix 1.  

Two non-valid complaints against three Parish Councillors had also been received, one was concerning a planning appeal, the other publication of consultation comments about a Neighbourhood Plan concerning the complainant’s business.  Both related to the Parish Councils as a whole and were not attributable to the behaviour of the individual Parish Councillors.

This meeting was the last meeting for two of the Council’s retiring Independent Persons (IPs) whose Terms of Office expired on 10 July 2021.  Mrs Susan Fellows and Mrs Jan Gray had been IPs for the Council since 2013, the maximum period allowed under the terms of the Localism Act.  Members thanked Mrs Susan Fellows and Mrs Jan Gray, on behalf of the Council, for their services to the Council and for providing invaluable support to the Monitoring Officer in the assessment of complaints made against elected Members of the authority and the Parishes and Towns across the District.

There had been no formal standards related training undertaken since the last meeting due to time constraints and other priority work.  It was hoped that a session would be put together for Members in the coming civic year using case examples from neighbouring authorities where possible.

It was noted that following the creation of a new Parish Council for Bexhill-on-Sea,  as the principle authority, RDC had become responsible for dealing with any CoC complaints against the 18 new Town Councillors in respect of their CoC. 

Following the adoption of a new CoC at the Annual Council meeting, a Member at that meeting raised the use of the word ‘should’ rather than ‘must’ within the Seven Principles of Public Life (the ‘Principles’), which were appended to the CoC as the Code had to be compatible with them.  The Council was not able to change the wording in the Principles but could ensure that the Council’s Code was worded in such a way should it look to adopt a new Code in the future.

One of the Committee’s Parish Councillor Representatives, Councillor David Smedley, had recently resigned as a Parish Councillor so there was a vacancy on the Committee.  The Rother Association of Local Councils would be nominating a new representative in due course.

RESOLVED: That:

1)         the report be noted; and

2)         the Committee formally records its thanks to Mrs Susan Fellows and Mrs Jan Gray, on behalf of the Council for their services to the Council as Independent Persons.