Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee Manager, having welcomed everyone to the meeting, invited the Panel to nominate a Chair for the proceedings.  It was unanimously agreed to appoint Councillor Amanda Hampsey as Chair of this Conduct Review Panel.

Report by Committee Manager, Legal and Regulatory Support

Prior to the consideration of business, the Committee Manager advised of emails he had received from Ms Susanna Miller and Mr Peter Booth regarding information contained within the Supplementary Agenda Pack.  It was established from the Review Panel that they would like to take these emails into consideration and a copy of the submissions were circulated.

At this point it was noted that the Chair had left the call.  Having established that Councillor Hampsey was having technical difficulties remaining in the meeting, the Review Panel agreed to appoint a new Chair. 

It was unanimously agreed to appoint Councillor Mark Irvine as Chair of this Conduct Review Panel.

Having assumed the role of Chair, Councillor Irvine advised that his first task was to establish whether members of the Panel had sufficient information before them to discuss and determine the subject of the complaint.  The Panel agreed that they had sufficient information before them to discuss and determine the subject of the complaint.

It was noted that the Council had received 3 complaints in relation to the conduct of Lochgoil Community Council.  As the complaints referred to the whole Community Council they had been referred to the Conduct Review Panel.

Consideration was given to a report providing information on the detail contained within the complaints, the response to the complaints from the Community Council and detail on the procedure to be followed by the Panel in terms of dealing with the referral.

The complaints centred around the handling of a response to a Planning Application which was currently under consideration by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority.  The application related to planning permission for the installation of a marine fish farm and associated development including shore base, slipway and pontoon and road upgrades at Beinn Reithe, Loch Long.

Each complainant had agreed that the substance of the complaints could be summarised as follows and the Review Panel considered each of these in turn.

a)    The Community Council did not carry out a proper consultation to objectively ascertain and reflect the views of the community in regard to this Planning Application.

b)    Following the calling of a special meeting of the Community Council to discuss the application, the Community Council submitted a response to the Planning Authority which did not reflect the outcome of this meeting.

c)    Requests for the special meeting to be held on a Hybrid basis were not taken forward, which excluded a number of members of the community who had expressed a wish to attend.

Decision

Having considered the information before them, the Community Council Conduct Review Panel agreed that the complaints submitted by Ms Susanna Miller, Mr Peter Booth and Ms Emma Lawrence had not been substantiated and were therefore not upheld.

Due to technical difficulties, Councillor Amanda Hampsey left the meeting prior to the conclusion of this meeting.

(Reference: Report by Committee Manager dated 10 October 2022, submitted, email from Ms Susanna Miller dated 6 October 2022 and email from Mr Peter Booth dated 10 October 2022, tabled)