Re: FW: Review Sub-Committee

Dear Nicola

I have interleaved some comments below.

In respect of the statement in your earlier email:

"I am aware that you did not wish any Conservative members to sit on the Assessment Committee, but for the reasons explained above, this may not be possible for the Review Sub-Committee."

I do not know how often I have now said this, but the primary concern I have expressed about the membership of the committee has nothing whatsoever to do with their party political affiliation.

I will try again: in the witch hunt that was pursued against erstwhile Councillor, Taff Davies, which ultimately resulted in his removal by the Standards Board, my name and my business were cited regularly and it was clearly implied that I was the casus belli in this matter, This information was passed to every one of the then elected Councillors, with the admonition that they were to have nothing whatsoever to do with me whilst the matter was sub judice - an interesting assault on democracy. I could bore for England on this subject, but a number of things are true:

Firstly the Standards Board tribunal, following pre-hearing submissions from me, agreed that whatever my relationship to Taff Davies was, it had absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the matters raised against him in the witch hunt. Not surprisingly, no letter was circulated in CDC to correct any earlier 'misunderstanding.' 

Secondly, as a result of what happened, the then leader of the Conservative group, Janet Duncton, got kicked into touch by her own people, for having made such a hash of things in the way that she handled Taff Davies +++. It got so heated that Andrew Tyrie himself, no less, got involved.

So: my view is that any present Member of CDC who was an elected councillor at the time of the witch hunt (regardless of party affiliation) is willy nilly going to have a view of me that may prejudice their judgement; and that this will be particularly true of anyone who was a member of the Conservative Party at the time of the hunt, and is now a Member of CDC.

Please let me know if this isn't clear.

As said earlier, my other comments are interleaved below.

Please note that I have now put this correspondence into my public domain system. I should have done it before, but failed to add your email address.

WBW

David 

In the interests of open, transparent and accountable democratic government, this email has been posted to http://wwpcmailstore.blogspot.com/

2009/10/19 Nicola Golding <Ngolding@chichester.gov.uk>

Dear Mr. Hopson,

I note that I have not received a reply to my e-mail of 25^th September 2009, in which I asked you whether there was any other document, material or comment that you would like to be put before the Review Sub-Committee - please see below.

I would like to put ME before the committee, but I assume the opportunity for personal representation does not exist 

In particular, your ground 2 refers to information that you have from the Standards Board that you say conflicts with information given by Mike Kelley. Perhaps you would like to produce the information from the Standards Board that you refer to. In addition, have you received clarification from the minister responsible?

My understanding is that recording phone conversations is, by default, illegal. The person I spoke to  at the SB was clear in her opinion  that it was off the wall to suggest or imply that the General  Principles of the Code of Conduct are not a material consideration in determining whether or not the Code has been broken.

As to the political input, I regard the matter as confidential in its detail. However, the interesting suggestion was made that this is a matter on which it might be appropriate to start an e-petition on the number10.gov.uk site - an action which is being investigated.

Your ground 3 states that (in your opinion) the summary of your complaint did not bare comparison with the substance of your complaint. The members of the Review Sub-Committee will, of course, be provided with full copies of your original complaint. However, I would be happy to put before the Committee your own summary of your complaint if you wish to submit this to me.

Would you please let me know what length of document would constitute a summary, and give me a deadline. I would also like to know who is on the committee (for a host of reasons, including notes at top of this email)

It would also be helpful if you could clarify whether under your grounds 5 and 6, your complaint is that the working parties are making the executive decisions in private, as opposed to the Committees of the Parish Council?

I would certainly argue, and think I make the point clear, that de facto the PC uses working parties to take executive decisions. To slightly expand on the words, 

any working party which comprises a majority of the PC  (including the Chairman and Vice Chairman as it members) and reaches a unanimous decision is de facto exercising an executive function - and it would be perverse to argue otherwise.

Far more importantly though, the public have a right to know how decisions are reached - the evidence, the arguments, the documentary material etc etc. used  in reaching decisions - and to be able to see a record of what has gone on. This point is clearly high on the political agenda nationally with the Trafigura business.

It is the matter of effectively hiding the working of the Parish Council that has brought it into disrespect - and the responsibility for this lies primarily with the Chair.

Finally, it would be helpful if you could explain your ground 8. What do you mean by "the practice under the Chairman's leadership ……".

The practice of ignoring the concerns being expressed by me and, more importantly, by members of the public, about the lack of transparency and accountability etc etc (see other material from me) in the PC's business and insisting on the use and continuation of Working Parties - a failure of leadership ++ that has brought the PC into disrepute. 

I am hoping that the Review Sub-Committee will meet in the first week of November. I explained, in my previous e-mail, the difficulties that we are experiencing in arranging the sub-committee, for which I apologise.

I look forward to hearing from you. If there are any aspects of the procedure that you wish to discuss with me, please do not hesitate to call me.

Thanks. Will do. 

Your sincerely.

Nicola Golding
Principal Solicitor
Legal Services
Tel. 01243 534659

______________________________________________
From:   Nicola Golding 
Sent:   25 September 2009 12:02
To:     'nunnington@gmail.com'
Subject:        FW: Review Sub-Committee

Dear Mr. Hopson,

Re: Review Sub-Committee

As you know, I am dealing with your appeal against the decision of the Assessment Sub-Committee on 22^nd July 2009 not to instigate a formal investigation of your complaint against Councillor Hutton.

I have asked our Member Services section to arrange a meeting of a Review Sub-Committee to consider your appeal. Unfortunately this is proving to be somewhat difficult due to the restricted membership of the Assessment Sub-Committee. We have one vacancy and another member is suffering a bereavement at the present time.

I am aware that you did not wish any Conservative members to sit on the Assessment Committee, but for the reasons explained above, this may not be possible for the Review Sub-Committee.

I will contact you again very shortly to confirm the date for the Review Sub-Committee. In the meantime, if there is any other document, material or comment that you would like to be put before the Committee please let me know, in writing.

Yours sincerely,

Nicola Golding
Principal Solicitor

________________________________________________________________________
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