Agenda and draft minutes

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 2^nd July 2025.

It was proposed by Councillor Clarance and seconded by Councillor Nuttall and

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the previous meeting be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillor Bullivant declared a personal interest in agenda item 18 (FS-Case-636881192) as his son had been involved in a complaints dispute with the concerned Councillor. He stepped down as Chair for this item and was not involved in its consideration.

To note the Governance Committee’s Terms of Reference, as approved by Full Council on 29^th July 2025.

The Chair introduced this item to the Committee

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

that the Governance Committee Terms of Reference that were agreed at Full Council on 29^th July 2025 be noted.

To consider the Independent Investigator’s Report. The Investigator has identified no breach of the Code of Conduct and recommends no further action.

The Chair, with the agreement of the Committee, brought the four code of conduct complaint cases forward to this point in the agenda.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

That the contents of the report be noted.

To consider the Independent Investigator’s Report. The Investigator has identified no breach of the Code of Conduct and recommends no further action.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

That the contents of the report are noted and no further action is taken.

RECOMMENDED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting of the particular item(s) on the grounds that it involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

It was proposed by Councillor Nuttall and seconded by Councillor Clarance and

RESOLVED

that the Press and Public be excluded from meeting of the particular items on the grounds that they involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider the Independent Investigator’s Report. The Investigator has identified a breach of the Code of Conduct and the Committee is to determine any further actions.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

The complaints concern the conduct of Councillor Macgregor at a private Members briefing and his communications to Officers following said briefing. The complaints allege that both his conduct and complaints were contrary to the code of conduct.

The Chair invited the Councillor Macgregor to speak. He stated that he had provided his proposed apologies to the Monitoring Officer and that he had fully confessed to his actions but that he had not received any further response. He also noted that it had been 6 months since he provided this statement and that that the report did not go into details of certain emails provided as evidence.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

That the contents of the report are noted, that Councillor Macgregor provide a written apology, and that no further action is needed. Councillor Macgregor gave his approval for this outcome.

To consider the Independent Investigator’s Report. The Investigator has identified a breach of the Code of Conduct and the Committee is to determine any further actions.

Councillor Bullivant relinquished the Chair and Councillor Henderson acted as Chair for this item.

The complaint concerned a Facebook post by Councillor Mullone regarding the removal of security measures at Bradley Lane Mills. The complaint asserted that this post had brought the Council into disrepute.

The Chair invited Councillor Mullone to speak. He spoke on the need for free speech and Councillors’ enhanced right to freedom of speech. The Free Speech Union had provided him with a letter of support which he circulated to Committee members. He also made reference to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report from 2022 which outlined the need for the Council to always consider free speech under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act.

The Democratic Services Team Manager advised that there was a fine line between acceptable and not acceptable free speech. It was noted that there is conflicting case law on this subject.

It was proposed by Councillor Clarance and seconded by Councillor Nuttall and

RESOLVED

That although the committee recognised the validity of the complaint and that it was decided by the barrister that a breach had occurred, they considered the issue marginal and nuanced, and so no further action would be taken.

To agree the frequency of meetings for the Governance Committee to be quarterly and for the Democratic Services Team Leader to affix the dates of future meetings in consultation with the Chair of the Governance Committee.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

It was proposed by Councillor Nuttall and seconded by Councillor Nutley that the Governance Committee and

RESOLVED

That the Governance Committee meets quarterly in January, April, July and October.

To approve the Arrangements under the Code of Conduct Complaints Procedure to accompany the Code of Conduct complaints process.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

The Committee discussed the sanctions available if a complaint is upheld and that a Councillor would be able to speak at the discretion of the Chair should their case come before the Committee.

It was proposed by Councillor Nutley and seconded by Cllr Nuttall and

RESOLVED

That the arrangements under the Code of Conduct Complaints procedure that accompany the complaints process be approved.

To consider the publication of information relating to the Governance Committee, Code of Conduct Complaints and webcasting of meetings. 

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Nuttall and

RESOLVED

That the following are approved:

1.     Publication of an Annual Report of the Governance Committee which will be reported to the Annual Full Council Meeting.

2.     A regular update of information about Code of Conduct Complaints is  reported at Governance Committee meetings and that the Democratic Services Manager in consultation with the Chair of the Committee agree the format of this.

3.     Webcasting (livestreaming) of Governance Committee meetings

Verbal update on Councillor Code of Conduct complaints received.

The Democratic Services Manager introduced the item to the Committee.

The Committee heard that there had been 9 new standards cases since the last Standards/Governance Committee meeting. This year there were currently 12 ongoing cases, 21 invalid cases, 3 required no further action, 2 were informally resolved, and 1 complaint was withdrawn.

In response to a question on common ‘themes’ of complaints, the Democratic Services Manager advised the Committee that most complaints related to Councillors and that they often covered the same issues.

In response to an additional question, the Legal Assistant clarified that no further action would be considered at stage four of the process, once the case is discussed with an Independent Person.

The Committee noted that there were frequent meetings with the Independent Persons and that officers had access to them if needed.

To consider granting dispensations to Members of the Council to enable them to take part in matters relating to Devolution and/or Local Government Reorganisation.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

The Committee considered that there was significant importance to the rights of Councillors to debate the proposals for Local Government Reorganisation.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

That the following are approved as recommended in the report:

1.     The granting of dispensations to the dual-hatted Devon County and Teignbridge District Council Members, and those Councillors who are also Members of Parliament, outlined in this report to enable them to discuss and vote on any matter relating to Devolution or Local Government Reorganisation in Devon. Such dispensations to take effect immediately.

2.     The granting of dispensations to District Council members who are employed by or are a spouse/partner of an employee of another District or County Council in Devon to enable them to discuss and vote on any matter relating to devolution or local government re-organisation in Devon. Such dispensations to take effect immediately.

3.     That the dispensations are approved on the basis that granting the dispensations is in the interests of persons living in the authority’s area.

4.     That the dispensations are granted until the next District Council elections, or until such time as the District Council ceases to exist, whichever event comes first.

To approve the Member Development Strategy 2025.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

It was noted that Councillor training history would be made public in the future. Officers were aware that not all Members had been able to attend all training or briefing sessions and that recordings had been made available for some.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

That the Member Development Strategy be approved.

To review the Member Training and Briefing log from May to August 2025.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

The log would also include the individual courses that Councillors had signed up to attend. As these were often paid for by the Council, the Councillors who attended these courses would be asked to feedback to the Council.

In response to a comment regarding attendance on site visits, it was considered that Planning Committee was the correct forum to highlight this information.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

That the Member Training Log be noted.

Consideration of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Annual Letter to the Council and the Council’s performance in 2024/25.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee. The letter highlighted the summary of work done in 2024-2025.

In response to a question, the Committee were informed that the Council had not had to pay out for the outcome of any Local Government Ombudsman cases for this year.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

That the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Annual Letter 2025 is noted.

To update Members on the work of the Constitution Review Working Group. The notes of the last meeting are attached to the agenda pack.

The Chair introduced the item to the Committee.

The Committee considered the potential of appointing substitutes to Governance Committee, in particular because of its smaller size and concerns around quorum. It was noted that the substitutes would have to received the same mandatory training as other Committee Members. This topic was due to be discussed by the Constitution Review Group.

The Committee also considered DBS checks for Councillors which were mandatory at other Councils. A full item on this would be included on the agenda for the next Committee meeting.

It was proposed by Councillor Bullivant and seconded by Councillor Henderson and

RESOLVED

That the Constitution Review Working Group update be noted.

The Committee thanked Officers and the Independent Person for attending.