Area Planning Committees (862 Scrutiny Committee)

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please provide copies of all documentation associated with the
secret meeting of the officers and members of the SNDC identified
in the scrutiny Committee minutes(Minute 862) of 22 April 2009.
Please also provide a copy of the email circulated by Cllr C Kemp.

862 AREA PLANNING COMMITTEES Members noted the circulated email
from Cllr C Kemp regarding the reorganisation of area planning
committees. The Director of Planning, Housing and the Built
Environment advised the meeting that a meeting had been organised
for members and officers to discuss the scheme of delegation and
the protocols for calling special meetings.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Hardwicke Carruthers

Dear Right2Know,

Many thanks.

D20. Minutes
D20.1 The minutes of a meeting of the Council, its Committees,
Sub-Committees and working groups must be prepared and entered in
the book kept for the purpose. They should be considered at the
next meeting of the body concerned.
D20.2 As soon as the minutes have been read, or taken as read, the
Chairman must put to the meeting that they should be signed as a
true record. No motion or discussion on the minutes may take place
except about their accuracy. Any question of their accuracy must be
raised by a motion. If no question is raised, or once the question
has been resolved, the Chairman must sign the minutes. A minute
duly signed is to be regarded as definitive, without further proof.

D20.3 Unless it is proved otherwise, a meeting of the Council,
Committee or SubCommittee for which minutes have been made and
signed will be regarded as properly qualified, properly constituted
and having the power to deal with the matters referred to in the
minutes. D20.4 The minutes of the Council, Cabinet and Committees
and Standing SubCommittees must be published on the Council’s
website and made available to all members of the Council by this
means.

D20.5 The signed copies of all such minutes must be entered in a
book and retained by the Director of Neighbourhood Management and
Democratic Services.

I had not realized that there was a second secret meeting that
sought to change the scheme of delegation - please provide all
documents.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Right2Know,

We are in agreement that the quotes from the SNDC Constitution are
statements of fact. It is also fact that Cllr Kemp identified that
an additional meeting was required..

.. for clarification are you identifying that there was no second
meeting ? or if there was that it would breach the SNDC
Constitution ? the Monitoring Officers report to Cabinet of 11 May
2009 on delegation identifies changes that were not subject to
scrutiny..

This would mean that the Monitoring officer breached the SNDC
Constitution to support elected representatives who wished to
breach the SNDC constitution..

If you should fail or are unable to give clarification internal
review is requested.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Right2Know,

In which case internal review is requested.

It states quite clearly as a statement of fact that documents
should have been produced.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Right2Know,

All information related to the request is here:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ar...

You have a copy of the Council's constitution with its statements
of fact, if not the version that applied when the request was made
can be obtained from the SNDC Monitoring Officer.

The very first article of the SNDC constitution states: 'The
Council will exercise all its powers and duties in accordance with
the law and this Constitution.'

It is anticipated that you are exercising delegated powers on
behalf of the Cabinet, as the SNDC operates under executive
arrangements.

You will either have the information or the Council has breached
its constitution and sought to change the constitution without
following its constitution.

The monitoring officer is responsible for producing a report
identifying if any enactment (Council Constitution) has been
breached.. possibly you have a monitoring officers report ? The
relevant law is in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

Commence the review.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Right2Know,

I'm afraid that you have not answered the question - and I must
insist on internal review as there should be little need for the
SNDC to waste the Information Commissioners resources through a
failure to administer its FOI / complaints service in a user
friendly way.

There has to have been an additional meeting. The scheme of
delegation was changed.. to identify that the relevant Cabinet
Portfolio Holder could intervene in the work of a regulatory
Committee:

4.3.4 When she/he considers that it is necessary to take urgent
enforcement action before the next scheduled meeting of a relevant
Planning Committee, to take any of the steps referred to in 4.3.3
above, after consultation with the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the
particular Planning Committee or, in their absence, the relevant
Cabinet portfolio holder, subject to legal advice at the time and
to reporting details of the action so taken to the next following
meeting of the particular Planning Committee.

It is known that a number of cabinet members have a prejudicial
interest in this change in the Constitution.. and that the
Monitoring Officer has been investigating breaches of the Council's
constitution for the last eight months related to Cllrs breaching
the constitution... on this particular issue.. as well as staff of
the Council breaching their codes of conduct..

It is specifically where did this change in the constitution come
from.. and where are the documents identifying how the change
occurred.

Hopefully, the information sufficiently specific.. it relates to
information that the council is required to hold under its
constitution.. if the information does not exist then you need to
inform the s151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer.. and the
Monitoring Officer can produce a report..

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS