Guidance to councillors on conflicts of interest with respect to planning matters.

Could you please release any guidance issued by Cambridge City
Council to elected councillors on the subject of conflicts of
interest with respect to meetings at which planning applications
are considered.

If it is not clear from the guidance itself, could you please also
let me know how it has been produced. Has it been produced by
Cambridge City Council officers or by central government for
example?

I am expecting the document(s) released to include the following,
which has been quoted by my local councillor, as guidance he has
received:

"If you have objected to a planning application as a ward
councillor and do not have a personal interest of any kind, then
you should ... not speak and vote on the application. It is
important that councillors approach planning applications with an
open mind and are able to weigh all the arguments right up to the
point at which a decision is made. If you make it clear that you
have made up your mind to vote for or against an application before
the meeting, regardless of the officer's presentation and evidence
and arguments on both sides, this could well leave the eventual
decision open to legal challenge and/or a finding of
maladministration."

I would like to suggest guidance supplied to councillors is made
available, and kept up to date, on the city council's Website.

Many thanks,

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk