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Complaint no. LA/SL/109

Concerning an alleged contravention of The Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor William McNab of South Lanarkshire Council

1. Complaint number LA/SL/109 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor William McNab ("the respondent"). A member of South Lanarkshire Council, Chair of East Kilbride Area Committee and who has been a councillor since 1988.

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular, the principles of Duty, Selflessness and Leadership in section 2 of the Code.

3. The person complaining ("the complainant") alleged that Councillor McNab was asked to intervene, on the morning of Saturday 3 January 2004, to halt the felling of trees for which it was suspected that planning consent had not been granted, that he refused to take action and, as a consequence, that he failed to accept his duties and responsibilities as a councillor. The complainant had been an objector to the development which had previously received planning permission with conditions relating to the retention of existing trees.

4. Councillor McNab has explained that when he was asked to intervene to stop the tree felling he advised that he could not do so because he was not authorised to question the contractor involved as to whether he had the requisite planning consent and because he was not aware of any procedure operated by the Council, outwith normal office hours, that he should follow. He has also stated that, as he did not consider that the matter constituted a risk to anyone's health or well being, he did not utilise the procedure which is in existence to enable councillors to contact senior council officers in an emergency. He undertook to contact the relevant department on Monday 5 January and ask them to investigate the matter.

5. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the Council has out of hours arrangements in place to enable members of the public to contact the Council in the event of an emergency. These arrangements are widely publicised. In addition, outwith normal hours, the Council's switchboard advises callers of the emergency numbers and switchboard operators can contact any department that may be required in an emergency.

6. The complainant's allegation that, because Councillor McNab did not take action to delay or halt the felling of the trees he did not comply with the provision in section 2.1 of the Code which states that councillors have a duty to uphold the law, is based on a misunderstanding of the obligation which this part of the Code imposes. This provision requires councillors to ensure that in their personal conduct they act within the law; it does not impose a requirement on councillors to take action to enforce the law when its observance is threatened by a third party.

7. Similarly, the requirements in section 2.1 to act in the interests of the Council as a whole and to take decisions solely in terms of the public interest relate to councillors' own conduct when dealing with Council business. They do not require councillors to act to ensure the enforcement by third parties of conditions imposed by planning consents or other authorisations.

8. The Council has arrangements in place to enable the public to contact it in the case of emergencies arising outwith normal office hours. These arrangements are well publicised. The proper course of action for the complainant, in the situation in which he found himself, would have been to use these facilities to report the incident directly to the Council's emergency number. His expectation that Councillor McNab should intervene to stop the contractor's action was unrealistic although the respondent could have suggested he consider contacting the relevant Council officers through the out of hours emergency arrangements.

9. Having considered the information arising from my investigation, I concluded that Councillor William McNab 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 December 2004