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Complaint no. LA/AB/129 concerning an alleged contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor George Freeman of Argyll and Bute Council

1. Complaint number LA/AB/129 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor George Freeman ("the respondent").

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular, paragraph 5.11 which deals with Declaration of Non-Financial Interests.

3. The person complaining ("the complainant") Ms A, alleged that the respondent failed to declare an interest in an item on the agenda of the meeting of the Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee of Argyll and Bute Council on 3 February 2004. She alleged that the respondent chaired the meeting while the relevant item was being dealt with and that he should not have done so. Further, she alleged that he should have declared an interest as he had been a committee member of the planning applicant (Dunbritton Housing Association) and also because he is the housing spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council.

4. In a written response the respondent claimed that he considered carefully the terms of the Code on the occasion in question and had no doubt that the historical link with Dunbritton Housing Association was irrelevant and without significance as he did not believe that any member of the public acting reasonably could have thought that his historical link to Dunbritton Housing Association would influence his decision on this or any other planning application relating to that public body. He wrote that it certainly did not and that he considered the application solely on its merits and in terms of the public interest. He confirmed that he was a committee member of Dunbritton Housing Association some years ago and that this had been a voluntary position which carried no remuneration. He pointed out, however, that he resigned in November 1998, 6 months before becoming a councillor. He added that he was not aware of any requirement in the Code for a housing spokesman to declare an interest when considering any application for housing.

5. The respondent did chair the meeting when the relevant item was being dealt with and did not declare any interest in the item. The application in question was approved subject to certain conditions. As stated above, the respondent took the view that because his connection with the housing association terminated in 1998 either paragraph 5.11 of the Code did not apply to him or alternatively, that if it did, his previous connection with the housing association was without significance. If he had attached some significance and had accordingly declared an interest he would have then required to give consideration to the provisions of paragraphs 5.17 and 5.18 of the Code.

6. From the information which he provided it appeared that the respondent did give consideration to the provisions of the Code when he was dealing with this particular planning application. If he had been a current member of the Housing Association who were the applicants then there is no doubt that paragraphs 5.11, 5.17 and 5.18 of the Code would have applied to him, and it was clear that he would have required to declare a non-financial interest and to have withdrawn from participating in the item of business in question. In this case however, the respondent had ceased to be a member of the committee of the Association in 1998 and accordingly, I found that he could not reasonably have been regarded as having a non-financial interest in the Association for the purpose of the relevant planning application. Also, I found nothing in the Code which would have required the respondent to declare as a non-financial interest his position as housing spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council. As I found that he had not been required to declare an interest it followed that the respondent had been entitled to participate in the consideration of and to vote on the relevant planning application.

7. Having considered all the information that arose from my investigation, I concluded that Councillor George Freeman had not contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
03 February 2005