Chiswick councillor says high standards needed in public life
At this week’s Hounslow Borough Council meeting, Cllr Peter Thompson, the Leader of the Conservative opposition called on Hounslow Council to reaffirm and recommit itself to the “Seven Principles of Public Life” or the “Nolan Principles.”
This follows recent reports of leading Labour Councillors breaching health safety regulations and the Code of Conduct for Councillors.
Councillor Thompson said;“The recent example of Cllr Mohinder Gill being found to breach the Code of Conduct when he “used his position to improperly confer an advantage” in the infamous planning meeting of 23 rd September 2010 and now Cllr Darshan Grewal being fined for ignoring health and safety regulations in his own restaurant, just shows the need for all of us to remind ourselves of these principles.”
The Nolan Principles of Public Life are: Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership. They were introduced back in 1994 for all in public life, be they Politicians, Civil Servants or Councillors, to ensure “the highest standards of propriety in public life.”
The Leader of the Conservative Councillors hoped his Nolan motion debated this week would get the Council Leader, Jagdish Sharma, to agree that Councillors are not above the law, “I want cross party agreement on how we prevent further incidents like this and all Councillors to sign up and publicly affirm these seven principles.”
A Council spokesman pointed out that the motion was agreed by all members and that there was cross-party support
September 19, 2013