Agenda and minutes

Notification of substitute Members were recorded as set out below:

·        Cllr Clokey substituted for Cllr Roud

·        Cllr Coffin substituted for Cllr Tanner

·        Cllr Williams substituted for Cllr Bell

In accordance with Council Procedure Rules 17.5 to 17.9 these Councillors had the same rights as the ordinary member of the committee for whom they were substituting.

Members are reminded of their obligation under the Council’s Code of Conduct to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Significant Interests in any matter(s) to be considered or being considered at the meeting. These are explained in the Code of Conduct on the Council’s website at Code of conduct for members – Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (tmbc.gov.uk).

Members in any doubt about such declarations are advised to contact Legal or Democratic Services in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Joint Standards Committee held on 12 July 2023

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the Joint Standards Committee held on 12 July 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive confirmation of the Parish/Town Council representatives for the Joint Standards Committee and endorse allocation of voting rights for the period 2024-2025.

Following consultation with Parish/Town Councils and the Parish Partnership Panel at the latter end of 2023, the report of the Interim Chief Executive confirmed parish/town representatives for the Joint Standards Committee.  The Chair of the Committee and the Monitoring Officer had also been consulted upon the proposals.

A revised ‘pool’ of parish and town council representatives was set out in Annex 1 together with proposed voting allocations for 2024-26.  It was confirmed that not being assigned voting rights didn’t prevent parish/town representatives from participating in meetings of the Committee but removed confusion around voting.            

RESOLVED:  That

(1)         the revised ‘pool’ for parish and town council representatives (set out in Annex 1) be noted;

(2)         the voting allocations for 2024-26 (as set out in Annex 1) and duplicated below be endorsed:

This report provided an update on complaints made to the Monitoring Officer that a Member may have failed to comply with their authority’s Code of Conduct.

The Committee received an update on the complaints made to the Monitoring Officer that a Member may have failed to comply with the their authority’s code of conduct.

Details of the complaints received since the last meeting of the Joint Standards Committee were set out in Annex 1.  Six further complaints were currently subject to initial assessment.

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

There were no items considered in private.