News Councillor found in breach of code
A former parish councillor was found to be in breach of the Parish Council's Code of Conduct earlier this week when East Riding of Yorkshire Council's (ERYC) standards committee met in Beverley.
Roy Hunt was found to have breached the code of conduct by not registering his interest as a member of the Conservative Party with Newport Parish Council last year, following a complaint from the Parish Council's former chair and councillor, Nick Retallick.
Following a discussion with the Parish Council's former clerk, a Mrs Jefferson, ERYC monitoring officer Susan Lockwood said that Mr Hunt was elected to the council in July, 1997, but that declarations of interest forms were not issued until the April, 2006 meeting of the Parish Council, to be returned to the annual meeting in May.
The Register of Members' Interests in which the councillor declares his membership of the Conservative Party is dated April 12, 2006. Mr Hunt stated that he completed the form at the March meeting but when he filled in the form, he initially did not declare membership of the Conservative Party.
However, he stated that before signing the form, another councillor asked if paragraph 15d of the form referred to a political party. Later in the meeting Mr Hunt asked the clerk if, in her view, a political party should be declared under paragraph 15 and after the clerk said that it probably did. Mr Hunt struck out the word 'none' in section 15d of the form and included membership of the Conservative Party.
In a letter to fellow parish councillors, dated May 12, 2006, Cllr Hunt said in response to allegations that he had failed to declare his political interest: "On the matter of membership of the Conservative Party, it was because I was ignorant of the fact that I was supposed to have registered an interest when I joined last year that I informed the council of my error and completed the register properly during the March meeting. On that matter, I apologise because ignorance of the rules is no excuse.
"I can assure you, however, that in all my dealings on Parish Council matters, I act as an independent member. For those who are interested, I joined the Conservative party to promote issues at either end of the age spectrum.
"I want to see more done for the young and I want to see better pension provisions for those like me, who are a little older."
Complainant Nick Retallick stated in an interview with ERYC that he had resigned from the Parish Council in March 2006, but he knew that in March that Mr Hunt had not declared an interest and was guessing that by the April meeting, he would not have declared an interest.
Mr Hunt would not confirm with ERYC when he joined the Conservative Party or answer any questions as to why a declaration was or was not made prior to the March, 2006 meeting, as these issues were beyond the remit of the investigation into the allegation that 'as of April 12, 2006', he had not declared his membership of the Conservative Party.
Helen Braid, ERYC assistant democratic services manager, said this week that Mr Hunt was found to be in breach of the code of conduct and was censured as a result.
Published on 2nd August 2007 in News.
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