To consider the report of the Monitoring Officer (attached ).

It was proposed by Councillor Best and seconded by Councillor Sutton that, under section 5.2 of the Council’s Constitution, paragraph 4.4 (g) the matter be dismissed as more than three months had elapsed between the alleged incident and the date of receipt of the allegation.

Councillor Van den Hende raised that complaints from the public had previously been dealt with after a period of greater than three months but it was pointed out that this was under a different Chairman and that it was important to be consistent.

The Panel noted the comments by the Director of Legal Governance in his report addressing the issue of the length of time the complaints had been submitted in but again felt it was important to remain consistent in how complaints were dealt with.

The Independent Person stated that a decision to dismiss the complaints for this reason raised concerns that this could bring the Council into disrepute. The Panel noted the comments.

The Panel AGREED unanimously that the complaints be dismissed and not investigated further due to there being more than three months between the date of the alleged incident and the date of receipt of the allegation. This decision was taken under section 5.2 of the Council’s Constitution, paragraph 4.4 (g).