Agenda and minutes

The Chair opened the meeting.

It was noted that the subject Member, Councillor Robert Bailey, was present and represented in a personal capacity by Mr Patrick Harrington.

The Chair reminded the meeting that the hearing was a public meeting and was not subject to the same procedures as a court of law.

Mr Harrington confirmed that he was agreeable to the proceedings being tape recorded.

There were no apologies for absence and the Chair declared that the meeting was quorate.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

Agreed.

Received and noted the Monitoring Officer’s report.

It was further noted that:

1.  the bundle of evidence in support of the Investigating Officer’s report has not been made available to the public due to the confidential nature of its contents;

2.  three of the witnesses, Councillors Fairbrass and Rawlinson, and an officer, Masuma Ahmed, would not be attending.  Agreed to note their non-attendance and this be taken into account when giving weight to their evidence.

Mr Winston Brown, Investigating Officer, presented his report which had been circulated with the papers for the hearing.  Referring to the bundle of evidence, Mr Brown advised that the bundle had been misnumbered as follows:

The bundle moves from page 219 to 230 - there were no missing pages.

A page between 293 and 294 was not numbered.

A page between 416 and 417 was not numbered.

There was no page 422 and no page 455.

Following questions of the Investigating Officer from Mr Harrington and members of the Sub-Committee, the following witnesses were called in turn:

Councillor McKenzie, Councillor Denyer, Councillor Mrs Rush, Councillor Barns and Pastor Aderounmu.

Each witness was questioned by the Investigating Officer, Mr Harrington and/ or members of the Sub-Committee.

Following completion of Pastor Aderounmu’s evidence it was agreed to adjourn the hearing and reconvene at a date to be agreed between the parties and that the proceedings would commence at 9 am.