Deja Vu

A warning to St Florence Community Council

I see from the report on manorbier.com that County Cllr Calver is interfering with the running of St Florence Community Council.  Be warned St Florence!  He is using the same tactics on you as he has used to bog down the operation of  Manorbier CC, namely the relationship between Council and Community Association and declarations of interest. If you let him succeed you could end up in as big a mess as Manorbier CC.

Don't listen to Cllr Calver, he has his own agenda and he is certainly not an expert in the regulations governing the operation of community councils.

He says on his website (for those of you who are not already aware manorbier.com is Cllr Calver's website) that  "The procedure that councillors must adopt is clearly set out in their Standing Orders of the Council" (sic). I am not familiar with St Florence CC Standing Orders and there may or may not be a standing order relating to declaration of interest but the legal document that covers declarations of interest is the "Conduct of Members (Model Code of Conduct) (Wales) Order 2001 (SI 2001/2289) (W117)" which all councillors sign up to when taking office.

Cllr Calver's website again " Councillors were asked by Cllr Calver on several occasions to declare what their interest was..."  It is not the prerogative of anyone to ask councillors about their interests nor should they be allowed to do so in Council.  The rules state that a declaration of interest is a matter solely for the individual councillor concerned to decide .  Councillors can, of course, seek guidance from the Clerk and Chairman and, as a final authority, the Monitoring Officer of Pembrokeshire CC.  It is not up to other councillors or members of the public to question an individual councillor on their interests.

If some councillors also sit on the committee of the Community Association then there may be conflicts of interest so I suggest that St Florence CC would be well advised to write to the Monitoring Officer explaining the situation in full and ask for his advice and guidance.  Even if interests exist the Standards Committee of Pembrokeshire CC can still grant dispensations.  Again ask the Monitoring Officer.

Cllr Calver states "when an interest becomes apparent a councillor must declare an interest, disclose the nature of the interest and then withdraw from the meeting".  Although the first part of this statement is true the part about withdrawing from the meeting does not always apply.  There are certain types of interest where the councillor with the interest can remain in the meeting and speak on the subject but not vote.  Again get unbiased advice from the Monitoring Officer, don't listen to Cllr Calver's distorted interpretation of the rules.

Finally, why do you allow this man to speak at your Council meetings? He has no right to do so!

The law says that only members of your Council should speak while the Council meeting is underway. Exceptions to this rule are if someone, not a member of the Council, is on rare occasions allowed to speak at the invitation of the Chairman or by a resolution in Council. Cllr Calver is not a member of your Council so when your Council is in session he has no more rights than any other member of the public. He has no extra rights by virtue of being a County Councillor.  Again, you can confirm this with the Monitoring Officer.

Be on your guard St Florence CC.

Speak to the Monitoring Officer without delay and get these matters sorted out.

Good luck.