At the second Extraordinary Meeting of Palerang Council held last Thursday, Council's solicitor Mr Alan Bradbury was asked to address the council to clear up confusion about the s.458 Exemptions councillors had sought from the Department of Local Government to discuss and vote on the working draft of the Local Environment Plan (LEP).
The issue of conflict of interest and pecuniary interest had been brought to a head when only six of the nine councillors, as landholders in Palerang, had been granted Exemptions. The others were Cr Bransdon, who had sold his land and did not need one, Cr Goonan who told the Times that she did not apply for one, and Cr Turley who was not granted an exemption, due to the wording of her declaration. Cr Turley wrote to the Braidwood Times last week explaining the mistake in her application, and has applied again.
Crs Howard Crozier, Richard Graham and Walter Raynolds sought to have Mr Bradbury's advice heard in closed session, but the motion was lost.
Mr Bradbury had prepared a single page explanation of some terms and legal requirements.
Mr Bradbury's advice included that a 'pecuniary interest' is "...an interest that a person has in a matter because of a reasonable likelihood or expectation of appreciable financial gain or loss to the person."
Mr Bradbury elaborated that it is "What a reasonable person might think"...and that the "threshold is very low - a chance is enough....You must explain what your Pecuniary Interest is, not just get out of the meeting."
Mr Bradbury defined 'what is a "matter" before council?' as "A matter being dealt with by the council on which it seeks a decision by its members. It can also include informal discussion of a matter."
Mr Bradbury advised what Councillors must do if they thought they had a pecuniary interest.
"If you have a pecuniary interest in a matter you must disclose the nature of your interest to the Council or Committee meeting in which it arises. You must then leave the meeting and not be present at or within sight of the meeting while the matter is being considered, discussed or voted on" Mr Bradbury said.
Mr Bradbury said that it "doesn't matter if it's not something you might want to take advantage of. That's not the test. The value has been increased so you have an interest that must be disclosed."
General Manager Peter Bascomb reminded the meeting that the Exemption document is a conditional document. "It only applies to the matters listed on the document. The Exemption doesn't apply to other matters, which could be discussed."
Mr John Mitchell made a statement that, "There is considerable confusion about both the nature and the scope of the exemption. I have been advised that the exemption does not suspend the pecuniary and non-pecuniary interest declaration obligations under the Local Government Act."The exemption simply allows the LEP discussions to start with a quorum of at least five councillors."If any councillor has a pecuniary interest it must be declared in the normal manner. It will then be up to the chair to decide how the interest is dealt with. That way fellow councillors, and members of the public, will be alert to hidden agendas."I have also been advised that any interest a councillor may have in the plan's contents, which goes beyond the simple ownership of land, should also have been included in the pecuniary interest exemption application."These interests would include; any submission, made on his/ her own behalf or as an executive member of an organisation, on behalf of him/herself and others, seeking changes to a planning scheme which, if adopted, will increase the value of his/ her property; any business relationship with a developer seeking changes to a planning scheme which, if adopted, will increase the value of that party's property. None of the exempted councillors have mentioned such interests."Councillors should be mindful that in discussing the detail of the plan, if their own development ambitions, or those of related parties, may be affected by rezonings, or changes to minimum allotment sizes or development contributions or the creation of wildlife corridors or riparian corridors, they must declare a pecuniary interest," said Mr Mitchell.
Cr Graham again challenged Cr Turley's lack of exemption and accused her of a pecuniary interest. With Cr Turley excluded the numbers would favour the pro development councillors.
After lengthy discussion Cr Moore moved a motion that would allow planning staff to use the working draft for further discussion with regional Department of Planning staff.
However the motion was lost and Cr Crozier successfully moved a contrary motion "that council continue its discussion of the working draft Palerang ELP 2010 and provide direction to staff for the further development of the plan.
Discussion then moved to specific issues of floor space ratios, boundary adjustments, demolition and earthworks.
Cr Turley left the room again when a clause about 'ecologically sustainable development' was discussed. After heated debate, a paragraph stating "Before granting consent for development, the consent authority must have regard to the principles of ecologically sustainable development as they relate to the proposed development", was deleted from the draft.
The next Extraordinary meeting to discuss the LEP working draft will be on Thursday 11th March at 10am in Bungendore. The following meeting on Thursday 25th March will be held in Braidwood.
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