PSOW Individual Decisions

The Ombudsman received a complaint that a member (“the Member”) of Bridgend County Borough Council (“the County Council”) and Porthcawl Town Council (“the Town Council”) had breached the Code of Conduct (“the Code”) by failing to declare an interest.  It was alleged that the Member had failed to declare a personal and / or prejudicial interest at 3 full Town Council meetings where actions were agreed in relation to an approval, consent, licence, permission or registration. The Code, at paragraph 11(1), requires members to declare personal interests.  At paragraph 12, the Code requires members to consider whether a personal interest might also be a prejudicial interest.  A member must consider whether a member of the public, who knew all the relevant facts, would think the personal interest was so significant that it would likely prejudice the member’s judgement. Paragraph 12(2)(a)(i) says there is an exemption from declaring a prejudicial interest in any business where it relates to another relevant authority of which they are a member.  However, paragraph 12(3) says the exemption ceases to apply where the business relates to the determination of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration. Information was obtained from the County Council and the Town Council, including emails, minutes of meetings and documents related to Griffin Park.  The Member and Complainant provided information by email and also spoke to the Investigating Officer by telephone. The Ombudsman noted the agenda and minutes of the 3 meetings showed there were agenda items related to an approval to go ahead with a transfer, the termination of a lease and the renewal of a lease.  This suggested that an exemption under paragraph 12(2)(a)(i) did not apply for these items and that the Member should have declared a prejudicial interest.  The Member did not do so.  The Member also did not declare a personal interest for 1 of these items. The meeting minutes recorded that the Member remained

The Ombudsman received a complaint that a Member (“the Member”) of Bridgend County Borough Council (“the County Council”) and Porthcawl Town Council (“the Town Council”) had breached the Code of Conduct (“the Code”) by failing to declare an interest.  It was alleged that the Member had failed to declare a personal and / or prejudicial interest at 3 full Town Council meetings where actions were agreed in relation to an approval, consent, licence, permission or registration. The Code, at paragraph 11(1), requires members to declare personal interests.  At paragraph 12, the Code requires members to consider whether a personal interest might also be a prejudicial interest.  A member must consider whether a member of the public, who knew all the relevant facts, would think the personal interest was so significant that it would likely prejudice the member’s judgement. Paragraph 12(2)(a)(i) says there is an exemption from declaring a prejudicial interest in any business where it relates to another relevant authority of which they are a member.  However, paragraph 12(3) says the exemption ceases to apply where the business relates to the determination of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration. Information was obtained from the County Council and the Town Council, including emails, minutes of meetings and documents related to Griffin Park.  The Member and Complainant provided information by email and also spoke to the Investigating Officer by telephone. The Ombudsman noted the agenda and minutes of the 3 meetings showed there were agenda items related to an approval to go ahead with a transfer, the termination of a lease and the renewal of a lease.  This suggested that an exemption under paragraph 12(2)(a)(i) did not apply for these items and that the Member should have declared a prejudicial interest.  The Member did not do so.  The Member also did not declare a personal interest for 1 of these items. The meeting minutes recorded that the Member remained

The Ombudsman received 2 complaints that a Member (“the Member”) of Porthcawl Town Council (“the Council”) breached the Code of Conduct. It was alleged by the first complainant that the Member had used racial slurs and disrespectful language towards other members of the Council on social media. It was alleged by the second complainant the Member had used disrespectful language towards the Former Clerk on social media and had refused to apologise at a Council meeting. Our finding, under section 69 of the Local Government Act 2000, was that our report on our investigation be referred to the Monitoring Officer of Bridgend County Borough Council for consideration by its Standards Committee. The Standards Committee found that the Member had failed to comply with the Code of Conduct. Its sanction was to suspend the Member from the Relevant Authority, as set out in the Local Government Act 2000, for 2 months.  The Member did not appeal the decision. The Standards Committee’s decision is available here.

The Ombudsman received a complaint that a member (“the Member”) of Porthcawl Town Council (“the Town Council”) had breached the Code of Conduct for Members. It was alleged that the Member had failed to declare a personal and prejudicial interest regarding an association with an employee (“the Employee”) of a company which the Town Council had contracted for work.  It was also alleged that the Member had allowed an inaccurate Internal Audit report to be published on the Town Council’s website.  The Ombudsman determined that investigation of the allegations concerning interests was appropriate, and the investigation considered whether the Member’s conduct may have breached paragraphs 6(1)(a), 7(a), 11(1), 14(1)(a) and 14(1)(b) of the Code of Conduct. Information was obtained from the Town Council, including relevant minutes and emails.  Witnesses, including the complainant, and the Member were also interviewed. The investigation found that the Member and Employee had had a short relationship in 2020, during which it was likely that the Member had a personal and prejudicial interest which they would have needed to declare and withdraw from relevant meetings where associated matters were discussed, or in approving invoices.  The evidence obtained suggested that the Member had not approved invoices whilst the relationship was ongoing, and whilst they had attended several Town Council meetings, which included associated items, only one of these meetings fell within the period of the relationship.  The Ombudsman determined that the Member may therefore have breached paragraphs 11(1), 14(1)(a) and 14(1)(b) of the Code of Conduct with regard to the meeting within the relevant period. It was found that as the Member and Employee’s association was neither close or acrimonious after the relationship ended, the interest was no longer personal and prejudicial.  The Ombudsman’s investigation also found there was insufficient evidence to suggest the Member had used their position i