Monitoring Officer
Written by Matt B · first published 07/08/2008
Thanet District Council (TDC) employ a Monitoring Officer. This office is significant for a number of reasons but in terms of local news it relates most strongly to the questions of planning applications F/TH/04/0297 and F/TH/06/0984 (not to mention a few in between). These are the planning application numbers for a plot of land that Thanet Strife has recently written about (the one that Cllr Simon Day is closely associated with).
Paul Moore is the current Monitoring Officer for old TDC. I had read (somewhere, I forget where) that he had left the post but I am informed that he remains in the position until sometime towards the end of September after which he will move to Wandsworth. When Paul Moore departs us another Monitoring Officer will be appointed.
The task of the Monitoring Officer is to advise both the Members and the Officers of TDC on the standards they should adhered to. Furthermore it the Monitoring Officer's task to investigate any and all possible infringements, breaches and deviations from those standards. After he has completed an investigation the Monitoring Officer will decide to report to the local Standards Board, the national Standards Board (The Standards Board for England) or in some cases the Police.
After the Monitoring Officer has made his report the matter is then subject to the group he hands off too. They will choose to investigate or not. Through out this process and beyond to the next level of investigation it is forbidden by the Constitution for a councilor to "intimidate" (or attempt to) a complainant or witness.
The rules governing an investigation by the Monitoring Officer make it highly inadvisable for a councilor or officer of TDC to pass any sort of comment at all. They are advised to simply reply that the matter is being investigated. It seems that this answer is not a case of "stone walling" by members but simply a desire not to become part of the problem.
A big thanks to Ken for his advice and input in explaining to me what a Monitoring Officer is and does.
Paul Moore is the current Monitoring Officer for old TDC. I had read (somewhere, I forget where) that he had left the post but I am informed that he remains in the position until sometime towards the end of September after which he will move to Wandsworth. When Paul Moore departs us another Monitoring Officer will be appointed.
The task of the Monitoring Officer is to advise both the Members and the Officers of TDC on the standards they should adhered to. Furthermore it the Monitoring Officer's task to investigate any and all possible infringements, breaches and deviations from those standards. After he has completed an investigation the Monitoring Officer will decide to report to the local Standards Board, the national Standards Board (The Standards Board for England) or in some cases the Police.
After the Monitoring Officer has made his report the matter is then subject to the group he hands off too. They will choose to investigate or not. Through out this process and beyond to the next level of investigation it is forbidden by the Constitution for a councilor to "intimidate" (or attempt to) a complainant or witness.
The rules governing an investigation by the Monitoring Officer make it highly inadvisable for a councilor or officer of TDC to pass any sort of comment at all. They are advised to simply reply that the matter is being investigated. It seems that this answer is not a case of "stone walling" by members but simply a desire not to become part of the problem.
A big thanks to Ken for his advice and input in explaining to me what a Monitoring Officer is and does.
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James Maskell wrote:
A member of the public throwing around an accusation with little supporting evidence isnt grounds for a full investigation.