Councillors

Councillors and co-opted Members of the Council are required to observe a code of conduct.

The Councillor Code of Conduct is set out in part five of our constitution. In December 2021 the Council approved an updated version of the Code following amendments issued by the Local Government Association.

• Councillor Code of Conduct 2020

All Councillors/co-opted Members are required by law to complete a declaration of interest form to register their disclosable pecuniary interests and other registrable interests as defined by the Localism Act 2011. When the code was updated we made some changes to the form to reflect those amendments.

These interests include

• employment, office, trade, profession or vocation
• sponsorship (including electoral expenses from a Political Party, Residents' Association or support from a Trade Union)
• contracts
• land and property
• licences
• corporate tenancies
• securities
• other registrable interests

The declaration of interests includes those of a spouse/civil partner/or other person that the Councillor/co-opted Member lives with as if they are a spouse/civil partner, apart from other registrable interests which only have to be declared for the elected Councillor or co-opted member.

Details of the declarations that each individual Councillor has made in the Register can be found on each Councillor's page.  The co-opted Members on the Englefield Green Committee have their interests listed on the Englefield Green Committee page.

The register itself is held by Democratic Services and can be inspected if you make an appointment.  Some information is redacted (withheld from the public domain) if there are special circumstances.

We also record on our website the interests that Councillors declare at meetings of the Council, its committees and sub-committees.  These are called 'Secondary Interests'.  We keep a paper register of these and started recording these online from May 2017.  The forms are kept for 6 years and then securely destroyed.

Sometimes a Councillor may be granted a dispensation which allows them to participate in a matter which they would otherwise be precluded from.

Councillors also have to declare gifts and hospitality they might receive in their role as a Councillor and all this information is included on their individual pages.