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Codes of Conduct for Councillors

All Councils are required to have a Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members of the Council, and the Code has to include provisions included in a Model approved by the Government. The current West Oxfordshire District Council Code of Conduct was adopted by the Council to be effective from 1st June 2007, and all members and co-opted Members of the Council have signed a written undertaking that they will observe the Code.

See West Oxfordshire Code of Conduct for the Code.

Town and Parish Councils

All Town and Parish Councils are also required to adopt a Code, and all 54 Town and Parish Councils in West Oxfordshire have adopted the Code, with effect from 1st June 2007. Again this must include the provisions included in the national Model. All 54 . The new Code for Towns and Parishes excludes some of the paragraphs which apply to the District Council.

See:

Parish and Town Councils Code of Conduct for the text of the Code; and
Parish and Town Councils Code for the relevant page of this website

Standards Committee

As required by law, the District Council has a Standards Committee, which includes Independent (non-Councillor) Members and a representative of the Town and Parish Councils in the District. The duties of the Committee include promoting good conduct, including the provision of training for Members, and monitoring the operation and effectiveness of the Code, both for the District Council and for Town and Parish Councils. The Committee, via smaller Panels, is also responsible for considering complaints that a Councillor has not followed the Code of Conduct.

Please see Standards Committee 2008-2009 for membership information.

Complaints

Since 8 May 2008, complaints that a Councillor or a co-opted member of the Council, or of a Town or Parish Council in West Oxfordshire, have not followed the code of conduct have be made to the Council. Further information and guidance about this will shortly be available from this page, but if you have any queries in the meantime, then please use our General Enquiry Form to ask for more information, or write to The Monitoring Officer, West Oxfordshire District Council, Woodgreen, Witney, Oxon, OX28 1NB; or telephone 01993 861581.

Guidance

The Standards Board for England has produced Guidance on the Code, also available as a download from this page. The Board has also published a series of brief factsheets on the Code, which are available in a single file download from this page.

Register of Interests

One of the requirements in the Codes both for the District Council and all Town and Parish Councils is for Councillors to register specified "interests". The registers may be inspected at the Council Offices at Woodgreen, Witney during normal office hours. A copy of the register for a particular Town or Parish Council may alternatively be inspected by arrangement with the Clerk to that Council. Details of Town and Parish Council contacts may be found in the download Town and Parish Councils Information.

Further Information on Codes of Conduct, Registering Interests and Complaints

Further information on the Codes and "Standards" issues is also available from the websites of the Standards Board for England and the Adjudication Panel for England.

You may also use our General Enquiry Form to ask for more information.