On 19 March 2010, the Leader
made and published an executive decision relating to the Nene Park
Trust – Appointment of Council Representative. On 24 March 2010, Councillors Goldspink and
Sandford submitted a request to call-in this decision on the
following grounds:
(i)
The decision did not follow the principles of good
decision making as set out in Article 12 of the Council’s
Constitution, specifically that the decision maker did
not:
(a)
Realistically consider all alternatives and, where
reasonably possible, consider the views of the public;
and
(b)
Follow procedures correctly and be fair.
In support of the request
Councillor Goldspink made the following points:
- The procedures had
not been followed correctly.
- Alternative options
had not been considered.
- The Leader had
proposed Councillor S Dalton and then approved her
appointment.
- The request for
call-in was not about the suitability of Councillor
Dalton.
- The procedure used in
this appointment was a violation of the Constitution and against
the principles of English law.
- The Leader did not
speak to Councillor Murphy about what he could bring to the
position.
- The Nene Park Trust
wanted the appointment of someone who was interested in the work of
the Trust.
- There was already a
Conservative appointment on the Trust.
- Since 2002, the two
appointments had always been one Conservative and one from an
opposition group. What message did it
send to the public to now appoint two Conservatives?
In response to the request, the
Solicitor to the Council made the following comments:
- A different process
was used to make appointments outside of the annual review, where
the views of the group secretaries may be sought. This did not stop the group leaders making
nominations.
- Views on the vacancy
were sought and other nominations had been received and
considered.
- In a political
environment the principle of not judging your own case does not
quite work as the Leader was delegated to make the
decision.
The following comments and
observations were made:
- The appointment if
made now would only last about a month before it could all change
during the annual review of appointments.
- There was a third
place on the Trust to which an officer had been
appointed. Councillor
Goldspink advised that it was through custom and practice that that
post was allocated to an officer however it had not been confirmed
through the annual process.
- Had the Nene Park
Trust given any guidance on the appointment, for example, someone
independent from the Administration?
There was no requirement for
independence.
- As the annual review
process would happen in around six weeks, a way forward could be to
leave the appointment vacant at this time and deal with it as part
of the annual review.
It was proposed by Councillor
Collins and seconded by Councillor JR Fox that the decision was
called in and referred back to the Leader with a recommendation
that the position was kept vacant and dealt with as part of the
annual review of appointments to outside bodies in May
2010.
On being put to the vote there
were 7 votes for and 0 against.
RESOLVED
to call in the decision and refer it back to the
Leader with the recommendation that the position is kept vacant and
dealt with as part of the annual review of appointments to outside
bodies.