Agenda and draft minutes

To select a Member to act as Chair of the meeting.

Councillor Monika Slater was duly elected as Chair.

There were none.

All Members are invited to declare at this point any interests they have in items appearing on this agenda, including the nature of those interests.

Councillor Peter Wilkinson declared a non-registrable interest as he knew the complainant in a professional capacity whilst he was a councillor at Hambleton District Council.

Members are recommended to exclude the press and the public from the meeting during consideration of the following item. The report and its appendices contain exempt information as described in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and it is considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Panel Members agreed to hold the hearing in open session.

Complaint against Embsay with Eastby Parish Councillor Vince Smith

Reference: SGC/2024/039

Decision Notice

Complainant: Mrs Hannah Heinemann, Head of Housing Delivery and Partnerships, North Yorkshire Council

Subject Member: Parish Councillor Vince Smith

Relevant authority: Embsay with Eastby Parish Council

Chair of Hearings Panel: North Yorkshire Councillor Monika Slater

Other Members of Hearings Panel:

North Yorkshire Councillor Clive Pearson

North Yorkshire Councillor Peter Wilkinson

Deputy Monitoring Officer: Jennifer Norton, Assistant Director Legal and Deputy Monitoring Officer, North Yorkshire Council

Investigating Officer: Bernice Elgot, external Investigator

Independent Person: Mrs Louise Holroyd

Parish/Town Council representative: Parish Councillor Peter Speed, Rainton Parish Council

Others present:

Harriet Clarke, Senior Democratic Services Officer, North Yorkshire Council

Moira Beighton, Senior Lawyer (Governance), North Yorkshire Council

Josie O’Dowd, Governance Officer, North Yorkshire Council

On 9 December 2024 the Standards and Governance Committee Hearings Panel, in consultation with the Independent Person for Standards, considered a complaint by Ms Hannah Heinemann, Head of Housing Delivery and Partnerships, North Yorkshire Council (the Complainant), that Embsay with Eastby Parish Councillor Vince Smith (the Subject Member) may have failed to follow the Parish Council’s Code of Conduct for Members.

Background

North Yorkshire Council has agreed arrangements for dealing with complaints that an elected or voting co-opted Member has failed to comply with the relevant Council’s Code of Conduct for Members, in accordance with Sections 28(6) and (7) Localism Act 2011 (“standards complaints”).

North Yorkshire Council is the principal authority for parish and town councils in North Yorkshire for the purposes of the standards provisions in the Localism Act 2011. It is responsible for receiving and handling complaints that a parish/town councillor may have breached that authority’s code of conduct for Members. That is the extent of North Yorkshire Council’s jurisdiction in respect of parish/town council governance; parish/town councils are separate legal entities and North Yorkshire Council has no jurisdiction to consider other complaints for example about the way in which the parish council has or has not done something, or about particular parish council decisions.

Where a standards complaint has been assessed by the Monitoring Officer/Deputy Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Independent Person for Standards, and referred for investigation, and the investigation report subsequently concludes there is evidence of a failure to comply with the relevant Code of Conduct, then the Monitoring Officer will consult the Independent Person and consider whether local resolution may be possible. Where the parties are not agreeable to local resolution or it is not appropriate, then the investigation report will be referred to a Hearings Panel of the Standards and Governance Committee for consideration and determination of the complaint in accordance with the Hearings Panel Procedure.

Summary of complaint

The complaint concerns an offensive racist phrase used by the subject Member at a Parish Council planning working group meeting on 31 January 2024.

Summary of findings and determination of complaint

Findings

The Panel considered the information presented and representations made and made the following findings and determinations on a balance of probabilities:

a)    The subject Member was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.