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Complaint no. LA/H/203 concerning an alleged contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor James Gray of Highland Council

1. Complaint number LA/H/203 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor James Gray ("the respondent").

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code and in particular, section 4 of the Code which deals with Registration of Interests and section 5 of the Code which deals with Declaration of Interests.

3. The person complaining (the complainant) (Mr A) alleged that at a meeting of Highland Council's Planning Development Europe and Tourism Committee in September 2004, in relation to an item on the agenda, the respondent declared a financial interest as a consultant acting on behalf of Highlands Renewable Energy Group (HiREG) and his involvement with the organisation Partners for Change, and left the room during consideration of the item. The complainant claimed that despite this, the respondent had not registered an interest, past or present, in HiREG in the current Register of Members Interests. The complainant further alleged that the respondent was sitting as a member of the Renewable Energy Working Group which was set up by Highland Council's Planning Development Europe and Tourism Committee but that he had not declared a financial interest in HiREG, whose constituent commercial members might gain from findings of the Working Group, and who were also represented on the Working Group.

4. In the first part of his complaint the complainant alleged that the respondent failed to register a financial interest. It was clear that the respondent carried out project work for HiREG during 2004 and was paid for this work in his capacity as a partner in Partners for Change. The respondent had registered that source of remuneration in his Register of Interests and had therefore substantially complied with the registration requirements of the Code. It should, however, also be pointed out that having regard to the terms of paragraph 4.8 of the Code - "When registering an interest in a partnership you must give the name of the partnership and the nature of its business" - it appeared that the entry was less than complete in that the nature of the business of the partnership had not been registered. The existing entry should have been amplified to include the nature of the business carried out by Partners for Change. It was understood that Partners for Change assists organisations in relation to development issues such as change management.

5. In relation to the second part of this complaint once again it was clear that the respondent had a past interest in Highland Renewable Energy Group (HiREG) and that contrary to his stated belief there may be occasions on which it is appropriate to declare a past, as opposed to a present, interest. However, taking into account Highland Council's policy on renewable energy, which is in favour of "renewables" and the maximising of economic benefits therefrom, the background to the setting up of the Renewable Energy Working Group and the function of the Group, I was satisfied that the respondent's past financial interest in HiREG did not, when taken together with his membership of the Working Group, lead to any contravention on his part of any part of the Code.

6. Having considered all information, I concluded that Councillor James Gray had not contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

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