Issue - meetings

In accordance with paragraph 2.32 of the Committee Procedural Rules and Appendix 7 to the Rules a total period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the Committee on any matter relevant to the work of the body in question.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman or person presiding will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers. Members of the public are not required to give notice to use this facility. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours’ notice is encouraged.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.

Sue Helliwell stated that within the Council’s Constitution the Members Code of Conduct referred to disclosable pecuniary interests and personal interests. A member’s code of conduct also applied to Town and Parish Councils and it appeared that the Monitoring Officer dealt with these complaints. Within the Government legislation it stated that Councillors must declare any employment, office, trade, profession carried for profit or gain, which either the councillor, or their spouse or civil partner, undertakes.   She asked if the Committee could confirm that Councillors do not need to declare that they sit on Town and Parish Councils when it came to discuss the Council Tax Precept at Cheshire East Council meetings?  She also asked if all Cheshire East Councillors, who sit on Town and Parish meetings, should declare they are members of Cheshire East Council at the beginning of any Town and Parish Council meetings if there were any business on the agenda, members motions, or amendments to motions they put forward that related to Cheshire East Council. 

David Brown, Director of Governance and Compliance responded that the Council’s Constitution contained a list of standing dispensations which were renewed by the Audit and Governance Committee in July 2020. It is up to each Councillor concerned to decide whether the business for the meeting impacted on the need to make a declaration.  The important factor to be considered was that the public interest test needed to be applied. The Localism Act required the Council to maintain a Register of Interests and a Councillor’s declaration of interest must include other interest, which included membership of a town or parish council.