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Which Sector? > Local Authorities > Fife Council >LA/Fi/453, 458, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466 and 476

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Complaint nos. LA/Fi/453, 458, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466 and 476 concerning alleged contraventions of the Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillors Anne R McGovern, Margot Doig, William Brand, Pat Callaghan, James Brennan, Henry T Blyth, Irene Connelly, Andrew Keddie, Agnes J Smith, John Cameron, Alexander Sawers, Thomas Dair, Gordon Duff, Drew Edward, Mike Rumney, William Kay, Kay Morrison, Fiona Purdon, Catherine Latto, Theresa Gunn, Alan C Kenney, Andrew Brown, Robert Young, Jim Philp, David C Arnott, James Connelly, Archibald Lowe, Ron A Edwards, Fraser Ballantyne, George Allan, William Aitken, John Mackenzie, John Simpson, Alexander M Thomson and Andrew Paterson of Fife Council

1. Complaint numbers LA/Fi/453, 458, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466 and 476 alleged contraventions of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by (variously) Councillors Anne R McGovern, Margot Doig, William Brand, Pat Callaghan, James Brennan, Henry T Blyth, Irene Connelly, Andrew Keddie, Agnes J Smith, John Cameron, Alexander Sawers, Thomas Dair, Gordon Duff, Drew Edward, Mike Rumney, William Kay, Kay Morrison, Fiona Purdon, Catherine Latto, Theresa Gunn, Alan C Kenney, Andrew Brown, Robert Young, Jim Philp, David C Arnott, James Connelly, Archibald Lowe, Ron A Edwards, Fraser Ballantyne, George Allan, William Aitken, John Mackenzie, John Simpson, Alexander M Thomson and Andrew Paterson ("the respondents"). The respondents are all members of the Labour Group on Fife Council.

2. It was alleged that the respondents had contravened the Code, in particular the Key Principles of Objectivity and Accountability and Stewardship contained in section 2, the requirements in section 6 in relation to Lobbying and Access to Councillors, and to the provisions of section 7 on Taking Decisions on Individual Applications.

3. The complaints all related to the consideration and approval of the finalised draft Fife Structure Plan 2006 - 2026 by members of the Labour Group on Fife Council. It was alleged that by their behaviour at the full Council meeting on 27 April 2006 every member of the Labour Group contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct. In particular the complainants alleged that:

the decision reached was achieved by the improper imposition of a political imperative or 'whipping' instruction;
those subject to the instruction wrongly acquiesced in its imposition; and
in reaching a decision on the draft Structure plan the respondents failed to take into account relevant considerations,

all of which amounted to contraventions of sections 6.3 and 6.4 of the Code.

4. Consideration by Fife Council of the finalised draft Fife Structure Plan 2006 - 2026

The process for consideration and approval of the draft Structure Plan appeared to have followed the framework set out in the national planning legislation as well as the internal requirements set out in the Council's constitutional documents. The Council's Monitoring Officer did not express any reservations in that connection.

5. The Relevance of the Code

In reaching a view on the applicability of the Code it was, as is self evident, essential to determine the relevance of the Code to the complaints. To do so the nature of the issue under consideration required to be assessed. The draft Structure Plan was a component part of the development plan for the Fife area which comprised both the structure and local plan. Structure Plans should in general provide or cover:

strategic land-use framework at a regional level
policy context for the local plans within their boundary
basis for decision making
complete and consistent consideration of the environment
a ten to fifteen year time span
policies and proposals approved by the Scottish Ministers.

Local Plans are:

more local
detailed and site specific
consistent with the Structure Plan

The legislative context for the preparation of development plans is to be found in Part II of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. Section 5 provides for the designation of structure plan areas, section 7 sets out the requirements in relation to their form and content, section 24 defines the meaning of 'development plan' and section 25 requires that any individual determination under the planning acts is to made in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

By contrast, the legislation which governs the consideration and determination of specific planning applications is contained in Part III of the 1997 Act. While section 37 of the 1997 Act requires that regard is had to the development plan, the terms, and indeed the scheme of the legislation, draw a clear distinction between the preparation and adoption of development plans as opposed to the process of development control itself.

Put broadly, the generation and approval of the development plan might properly be seen as a strategic or policy issue, whereas the determination of a particular planning application involves the exercise of a quasi judicial function, bringing with it the additional responsibilities for decision makers alluded to in section 6 and set out more fully in section 7 of the Code. During the course of the investigation the decision to approve the draft Structure Plan was regularly described as one of 'policy', as well as 'strategic' or 'visionary'.

Attempting positively to categorise the type of decision was counter productive, because whatever was the nature of the exercise undertaken by the Council at its meeting on 27 April, it was certainly not the determination of an individual application which was ultimately the critical issue. It was clear that the individual paragraphs in section 7 of the Code (set out in full at paragraph 1.3 above) were sensible only if read in the context of a particular application. In addition paragraphs 21 - 33 ('Taking Decisions on Individual Applications') of their Guidance Note to Local Authorities issued by the Standards Commission for Scotland in July 2004, served to emphasise that section 7 of the Code was concerned with the consideration and determination of specific development proposals. That being the case, neither the requirements of section 7 nor those set out in paragraphs 6.3 and 6.4 of the Code applied in this case.

6. Other Issues

Although a detailed examination of the internal approach adopted by the Labour Group was not necessary to adjudicate on the complaints it was clear that a degree of political discipline was expected by the party. Given the extensive process of consultation and consideration which preceded the Council meeting this was perhaps unsurprising in relation to the consideration of a plan described in the Council report as ...'the most significant planning document which the Council requires to consider.' It was also worth noting from the pattern of voting at the Council meeting that both the Labour Group and the Liberal Democrat Group each appeared to have maintained a unified approach to the issue.

The Structure Plan Process

Those wider criticisms of the approval process set out in the complaints which alleged an absence of balance, proportionality and disregard for notions of justice and democracy lay beyond the scope of this determination. It would have been unfair, however, not to have recognised the extensive range of factors addressed in the report which was before the Council at its April meeting. Responsibility for the final stage of approval lies with Scottish Ministers who are required to review all relevant material and who may make further modifications to the Plan all in terms of the Town and Country Planning Act 1997 and the Town and Country Planning (Structure and Local Plans) (Scotland) Regulations 1983. Representations may be submitted to Ministers as part of that approval process.

7. Conclusion

Having considered the information that arose from my investigation, I concluded that, the named respondents had not contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
16 October 2006