Issue - meetings
Revised Planning Code of Conduct
Meeting: 05/07/2017 - General Purposes Committee (Item 4)
4 Revised Planning Code of Conduct PDF 97 KB
This report advises of a proposed revised Planning Code of Conduct at Part 5.2 of the Tower Hamlets Constitution.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Paul Greeno, Senior Corporate and Governance Lawyer, introduced the report and explained the rationale for some of the changes since the previous planning code of conduct. Mr Greeno explained that the proposed new Code had been benchmarked with other councils, including specifically those operating a directly elected mayor system.
The Committee welcomed the proposed new Code of Conduct but asked that a number of minor amendments be made, as follows:
· Section 3 – Interests – guidance as to what constitutes ‘the Council’s area’ in various scenarios and guidance for Councillors making representations to withdraw (or otherwise) when the Committee votes on those issues.
· Section 5 – Application by a Councillor or Officer – addition of wording to clarify that the onus is on the Councillor or Officer to alert the relevant persons that they are personally involved in an application.
· Section 6 – Application by the Council – addition of wording to stress that the Council's involvement as the applicant will be made explicit and transparent.
· Section 8 – Pre-Meetings, Presentations and Briefing Sessions – guidance on who should/should not accompany a Councillor in a meeting with an applicant, developer, agent or objector.
· Section 13 – Decision Contrary to Officer Recommendations – ensuring any linkages with the Development Procedure Rules are explicit.
RESOLVED:
That the General Purposes Committee:
- Noted the revised Planning Code of Conduct in Appendix 1 of the report;
- Noted that Planning Code of Conduct is part of the Council’s ethical framework and should be read in conjunction with the Councillors’ Code of Conduct and the Member/ Officer Protocol;
- Agreed that the amendments listed above be made to the Code and/or Development Procedure Rules as appropriate, prior to their referral to Council;
- Noted that pursuant to Part 1 Paragraph 4.02 of the Constitution the adoption and amendment of the revised Code of Conduct is a matter for Council; and
- Recommended to Council the revised Planning Code of Conduct, subject to the Committee’s proposed amendments to the draft Code being highlighted for the Council’s information.