It is a sensible decision to remove the Chief Executive of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council from the board of the Tunbridge Wells Regeneration Company (TWRC), indeed the only pity is that a second officer remains on the board. The company is a joint venture between the council and Laing.
The boundary between councillors, who make decisions for which they are answerable at the ballot box, and officers who advise and carry out the decisions of the councillors is not impenetrable. Officers have delegated powers to make decisions on planning applications, but they have to work within the parameters of the delegation.
In the case of TWRC it would appear that the council officers and councillors had equal rights. What if they disagreed on a matter? Could pose difficulties.
There is also the major issue of conflict of interest to be considered. An example. A local authority appoints councillors to the board of an housing association. Case law on this is clear: the councillors must make decisions at board meetings which are in the best interest of the housing association. However, as happened in Tunbridge Wells some years ago, the housing association and the council might disagree on an important policy. Councillors on the board were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Councillors need to be very careful should they join an outside organisation, whether it be a company or a charity. There first duty as a director or trustee is to the organisation they join, not to the council, and this applies both to being a nominee of the council or as an independent act by councillor.
A councillor who, of his/her own volition becomes a trustee of a charity would have to be excluded from a council meeting if an issue concerning that charity is being debated - for example the award of a grant. Indeed he/she might have to be excluded from all grant application decisions as, if there are more applications than money to go round, he/she could be accused of deciding against making some grants to ensure money was available for 'his/her' charity.
When I was vice-chairman of West Kent Council for Voluntary Service it was decided that we would have no councillors on our management committee for fear of conflict of interest issues.
A former leader of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council was keen to extricate councillors from outside organisations to which the council had a power of nomination arguing, rightly in my opinion, that a council should be 'at arms length' from outside organisations.
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