Councillors' Interests
Register of Interests
All councillors are required by law to complete a declaration
of interests form to register financial and other interests that
could potentially conflict with their role as a local
councillor. This must be kept up to date and councillors
should register any changes within 28
days.
The register of declarations is a public document and can
be viewed at the Council Offices, Crescent Gardens, Harrogate, HG1
2SG during normal office hours. Please ask for Member
Services on arrival. If you need advice
beforehand, please contact the Member Services
team, by telephone on 01423 556004 or by email to
membserv@harrogate.gov.uk
Declaration of Interests at Meetings
One of the first items of business at a meeting is for
councillors to declare any interests they know they will have
relating to business on that particular agenda. These can
either be personal or prejudicial interests (more of these
below!). These declarations are recorded in the minutes of
the meeting and must be stated even if they already appear in a
councillor's entry in the register of declarations.
Once the various discussions and debates are underway in a
meeting and a councillor then realises that he/she has an
unexpected interest after all, the interest must be declared at the
time it becomes apparent.
Types of Interest
Personal
There are various reasons why a councillor could have a
personal interest in a matter. These are set out in the
council's
constitution published on this website - please scroll down to
Part 5, Members' Code of Conduct. They include things such as
membership of other bodies, employment or business, beneficial
interests in any land in the district, relationships with relevant
people and receipts of gifts and hospitality.
The nature of a personal interest in a matter is
recorded in the minutes of the meeting and, once declared, the
councillor can remain in the meeting, take part in the debate and
vote on the item.
Prejudicial
A prejudicial interest is also explained in the council's
constitution - Part 5, Members' Code of Conduct. This is
an interest 'which a member of the public with knowledge of the
full facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is
likely to prejudice a councillor's judgement of the public
interest'.
If a councillor has declared a prejudicial interest in an item
of business, they must leave the meeting room and not take part in
the discussion nor vote on it; and these facts are recorded in
the minutes of the meeting. But, as the councillor is not
obliged to state what the prejudicial interest is, that often
cannot be recorded.
The exception to not being present relates to meetings where the
councillor can attend only for the purpose of making
representations, answering questions or giving evidence relating to
the business provided that the public are also allowed to
attend the meeting for the same purpose (eg at planning or scrutiny
meetings). The councillor would then have to leave the
meeting room once that has taken place.
If you have any queries on councillors' interests in general,
please do not hesitate to contact the Head of Legal and
Democratic Services, at the Council Offices, Crescent Gardens,
Harrogate, HG1 2SG, by telephone on 01423 556029 or email
peter.jordan@harrogate.gov.uk
