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Complaint no. LA/H/43

Concerning an alleged contravention of The Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor Alistair Rhind of Highland Council

1. Complaint number LA/H/43 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor Alistair Rhind ("the respondent").

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular the key principle of Honesty (Section 2) and the provisions as to Declaration of Interests (paragraphs 5.5 & 5.13).

3. The person complaining ("the complainant"), alleged that at a meeting of the Highland Council's (Ross and Cromarty) Planning Committee on the 15 September 2003, the respondent promoted land belonging to a "Mr A" and as a result that land appeared marked for housing on the Council's Deposit Draft Plan released on the 7 November 2003.

4. The complainant stated (a) he had previously complained about the Community Council and the actions of the respondent and Mr A when acting as Chair of the Community Council (b) Mr A had chaired a pre-election public meeting for Councillor Rhind and he understood they had a close relationship (c) the respondent and Mr A were co-directors of a local company, were both JPs and had both been community councillors.

5. The complainant did not allege that the respondent and Mr A had a family relationship and he was not able to provide me with any further specific evidence or detail of their relationship. However he did indicate to me a potential witness who would know the extent and nature of their relationship.

6. I interviewed the witness identified by the complainant. The witness was unwilling to be identified by me in my reports but gave a number of examples of conflicts over local development and planning matters in which the respondent and Mr A had been involved and allegedly influenced the outcome. The witness said that the respondent had a habit of commenting on planning applications at meetings of the Community Council before the Community Council had considered the applications. The witness did not know, or give me any evidence to show, that the respondent and Mr A were close or personal friends.

7. None of the other witnesses stated that the respondent and Mr A were close friends.

8. The respondent said that he knew Mr A only through their local political, community and church work but did not have a personal or close relationship with him. He admitted promoting Mr A's land saying he had done so on the basis of proper planning considerations.

9. The respondent pointed out to me that his community is a small close-knit one in which he knew many people and that if he had to declare an interest regarding every matter involving such people he could never participate in Council business.

10. I found no evidence to indicate that the respondent had a close friendship with Mr A and therefore he had no relevant interest to declare.

11. Having considered the information that arose from my investigation, I concluded that, Councillor Alistair Rhind had not contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
30 July 2004