Community Councils

South Ayrshire Community Council Scheme and Handbook

COMMUNITY COUNCILLORS CODE OF CONDUCT

1	-	The law and standing orders
2	-	Public Duty and Private Interest
3	-	Disclosure of pecuniary and other Interests
4	-	Dispensations
5	-	Disclosure in other Dealings
6	-	Chair
7	-	Use of confidential and private information
8	-	Gifts and Hospitality
9	-	Expenses and Allowances
10	-	Dealings with the Community Council
11	-	Use of Community Council Facilities
12	-	Appointments to other Bodies
13	-	Authority of Code
14	-	Expulsions

1. THE LAW AND STANDING ORDERS

Community Councillors hold office by virtue of the law, and must at all times act within the law. You should make sure that you are familiar with the rules of personal conduct which the law and your Community Council’s Constitution require, and the guidance contained in this Code. It is your responsibility to make sure that what you do complies with these requirements and this guidance. You should regularly review your personal circumstances with this in mind, particularly when your circumstances change. You should not at any time advocate or encourage anything to the contrary. If you are in any doubt, seek advice from the Director of Development, Safety and Regulation of South Ayrshire Council or another of the Council’s senior officers or from your own legal adviser. In the end however, the decision and the responsibility are yours.

2. PUBLIC DUTY AND PRIVATE INTEREST

2.1 Your over-riding duty as a Community Councillor is to the whole local community served by the Community Council of which you are a member including those who did not vote for you.

2.2 If you have a private or personal interest in a question which Community Councillors have to decide, you should never take any part in the decision, except in the special circumstances described below. Where such circumstances do permit you to participate, you should never let your interest influence the decision.

2.3 You should never do anything as a Community Councillor which you could not justify to the public. Your conduct, and what the public believes about your conduct, will affect the reputation of your Community Council.

2.4 It is not enough to avoid actual impropriety. You should at all times avoid any occasion for suspicion and any appearance of improper conduct.

2.5 You should be clear at all times on your role when attending Community Council meetings. You can employ your skills and experience for the benefit of the Community Council but you should not act in your professional or interest role (e.g. as architect, journalist, licensee) as well as act in the role of Community Councillor.

3. DISCLOSURE OF PECUNIARY AND OTHER INTERESTS

3.1 Whilst the law does not make specific provision requiring you, as a Community Councillor, to disclose both direct and indirect pecuniary interests (including those of a partner with whom you are living) which you may have in any matter coming before the Community Council, a Committee or a Sub-Committee, nor prohibit you from speaking or voting on that matter, you should behave as if the law applying to South Ayrshire Councillors applies to you. These requirements must be scrupulously observed at all times.

3.2 Interests which are not pecuniary can be just as important. You should not allow the impression to be created that you are, or may be, using your position to promote a private or personal interest, rather than forwarding the general public interest. Private and personal interests include those of your family, friends and employer, as well as those arising through membership of, or association with, clubs, societies, and other organisations such as the Freemasons, trade unions, political parties, religious groups and voluntary bodies.

3.3 If you have a private or personal non-pecuniary interest in a matter arising at a Community Council meeting, you should always disclose it, unless it is one which you share with other members of the public generally as a ratepayer or a council tax payer or an inhabitant of the area.

3.4 Where you have declared such a private or personal interest, you should decide whether it is clear and substantial (see 3.5 below). If it is not, then you may continue to take part in the discussion of the matter and may vote on it. If, however, it is a clear and substantial interest, then (except in the special circumstances described in 3.6 below) you should never take any further part in the proceedings, and should always withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is being considered.

3.5 In deciding whether such an interest is clear and substantial, you should ask yourself whether members of the public, knowing the facts of the situation, would reasonably think that you might be influenced by it. If you think so, you should regard the interest as clear and substantial.

3.6 In the following circumstances, but only in these circumstances, it can still be appropriate to speak, and in some cases to vote, in spite of the fact that you have declared such a clear and substantial private or personal interest:

3.6.1 if your interest arises in your capacity as a member of a public body, you may speak and vote on matters concerning that body. For this purpose, a public body is one where, under the law governing declarations of pecuniary interests, membership of the body would not constitute an indirect pecuniary interest;

3.6.2 if your interest arises from being appointed by your Community Council as its representative on the managing committee, or other governing body, of a charity, voluntary body or other organisation formed for a public purpose (and not for the personal benefit of the members), you may speak and vote on matters concerning that organisation;

3.6.3 if your interest arises from being a member of the managing committee, or other governing body of such an organisation, but you were not appointed by your Community Council as its representative, then you may speak on matters in which that organisation has an interest; you should not vote on any matter directly affecting the finances or property of that organisation, but you may vote on other matters in which the organisation has an interest;

3.6.4 if your interest arises from being an ordinary member or supporter of such an organisation (and you are not a member of its managing committee or other governing body), then you may speak and vote on any matter in which the organisation has an interest.

4. DISPENSATIONS

4.1 Circumstances may arise where the work of your Community Council is affected because some Community Councillors have personal interests (pecuniary or non-pecuniary) in some question.

4.2 In the case of non-pecuniary interests, there may be exceptions to the guidance contained in paragraphs 3.2 to 3.6 of this Code. In the circumstances below it may be open to you to decide that the work of the Community Council requires you to continue to take part in a meeting which is discussing a matter in which you have a clear and substantial private or personal interest.

4.3 Before doing so, you should:

4.3.1 take advice from the chairperson of your Community Council (if this is practicable) or from the appropriate senior officers of South Ayrshire Council as to whether the situation justifies such a step;

4.3.2 consider whether the public would regarding your interest as so closely connected with the matter in question that you could not be expected to put your interest out of your mind (for example, the matter might concern a decision by the Community Council affecting a close relative); if you think that they would, you should never decide to take part in a discussion of, or a vote on, the matter in question; and

4.3.3 consider any guidance which your Community Council has issued on this matter.

4.4 The circumstances in which (after such consultation and consideration) you may decide to speak and vote on a matter in which you have a clear and substantial private or personal non-pecuniary interest are if, but only if, at least half the Community Council would otherwise be required to withdraw from consideration of the business because they have a personal interest.

4.5 If you decide that you should speak or vote, notwithstanding a clear and substantial personal or private non-pecuniary interest, you should say at the meeting, before the matter is considered, that you have taken such a decision, and why.

4.6 The guidance set out in paragraphs 4.2 to 4.5 above also applies to Committees and Sub-Committees.

5. DISCLOSURE IN OTHER DEALINGS

5.1 You should always apply the principles about the disclosure of interests to your dealings with Community Council matters to your unofficial relations with other Community Councillors at, for example, informal occasions, no less scrupulously than at formal meetings of the Community Council, Committees and Sub-Committees.

5.2 You, or some firm or body with which you are personally connected, may have professional business or personal interests within the area for which the Community Council is responsible. Such interests may be substantial and closely related to work of the Community Council or of one or more of the Community Council’s Committees or Sub-Committees. For example, the firm or body may be concerned with planning, developing land, council housing, personnel matters or the letting of contracts for supplies, services or works. You should not seek, or accept, membership of the Community Council or any such Committee or Sub-Committee if that would involve you in disclosing an interest so often that you could be of little value to the Council, Committee or Sub-Committee, or if it would be likely to weaken public confidence in the duty of the Community Council, Committee or Sub-Committee to work solely in the general public interest.

6. CHAIR

6.1 You should not seek or accept the Chair of the Community Council if you or any body with which you are associated, has a substantial financial interest in, or is closely related to, the business or affairs of the Council. Likewise you should not accept the Chair of a Committee or Sub-Committee if you have a similar interest in the business of the Committee or Sub-Committee.

7. USE OF CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVATE INFORMATION

7.1 As a Community Councillor or a Committee or Sub-Committee member, you may acquire much information that has not yet been made public and is still confidential. It is a betrayal of trust to breach such confidences. You should never disclose or use confidential information for the personal advantage of yourself or of anyone known to you, or to the disadvantage or the discredit of the Community Council or any else.

8. GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY

8.1 You should treat with extreme caution any offer or gift, favour or hospitality that is made to you personally. The person or organisation make the offer may be doing, or seeking to do, business with the Community Council, or may be applying to the Community Council for some kind of decision or recommendation.

8.2 There are no hard or fast rules about the acceptance or refusal of hospitality or tokens of goodwill. For example, working lunches may be a proper way of doing business, provided that they are approved by the Community Council beforehand and that no extravagance is involved. Likewise, it may be reasonable for a member to represent the Community Council at a social function or event organised by outside persons or bodies.

8.3 You are personally responsible for all decisions connected with the acceptance or offer of gifts or hospitality and for avoiding the risk of damage to public confidence in Community Councils. The offer or receipt of gifts or invitations should always be reported to the Secretary of the Community Council.

9. EXPENSES AND ALLOWANCES

9.1 There may be rules enabling you to claim expenses and allowances in connection with your duties as a Community Councillor or a Committee or Sub-Committee member, and these rules must be scrupulously observed.

10. DEALINGS WITH THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

10.1 You may have dealings with the Community Council on a personal level (for example as an applicant for planning permission). You should never seek or accept preferential treatment in those dealings because of your position as a Community Councillor or a Committee or Sub-Committee member. You should also avoid placing yourself in a position that could lead the public to think that you are receiving preferential treatment. Likewise, you should never use your position as a Community Councillor or a Committee or Sub-Committee member to seek preferential treatment for friends or relatives, or any firm or body with which you are personally connected.

11. USE OF COMMUNITY COUNCIL FACILITIES

You should always make sure that any facilities (such as transport, stationery, or secretarial services) provided by the Community Council for use in your duties as a Community Councillor or a Committee or Sub-Committee member are used strictly for those duties and for no other purpose.

12. APPOINTMENTS TO OTHER BODIES

You may be appointed or nominated by your Community Council as a member of another body or organisation – for instance, to voluntary organisation. You should always observe this Code in carrying out your duties on that body in the same way you would with the Community Council.

13. AUTHORITY OF CODE

This code has been issued by South Ayrshire Council to describe the standard of behaviour expected from individual Community Councillors. It is expected that all Community Council Members will adhere to its terms. If a Member of a Community Council does not or cannot adhere to the terms of the Code, it would be expected that the Member would leave the Council. If the Member refuses to leave then the Community Council may cease to be recognised by South Ayrshire Council.

14. EXPULSIONS

Each duly elected Member of a Community Council, shall agree in writing to abide by the Constitution of his/her Community Council. Each Community Council will lay down a Code of Conduct and procedure within their Constitution. Any Member of a Community Council who repeatedly flouts or ignores the rules as laid down in the Code of Conduct, will be subject to disciplinary action by their Community Council. If the conduct of a Community Councillor is deemed to amount to “gross misconduct”, in terms of the Code of Conduct, then he or she may be duly expelled by their Community Council. Where a dispute arises between an individual Member and his/her Community Council over the interpretation of the Constitution of that Community Council, then the Director of Development, Safety and Regulation, South Ayrshire Council, or his/her representative may be invited by the individual member, or the Community Council to act as arbiter, in which event the decision by the Director shall be final and binding.