The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 are designed to make local authorities more transparent to their local communities. Regulation 7 requires that certain types of officer decisions are recorded and made available to the public.
A. What will be published:
We will publish a record of:
- a specific express delegation to an officer from the General Assembly of the Council, Cabinet, Committee or Board; and
- Key Decisions taken by Officers under delegated authority; and
- subject to the exclusions referred to below, a decision made by an officer under the Scheme of Delegations to Officers and the effect of the decision is to:
- grant a permission or licence [see our list of public registers]; or
- affect the rights of an individual e.g. a compulsory purchase order [search decisions]; or
- award a contract or incur expenditure, which has a value of £500,000* or more [search decisions].
*Reviewed annually at the Budget Meeting
Where we already publish information on our website e.g. through the Planning Portal, or in accordance with Local Government (Transparency Requirements) (England) Regulations 2015 and/or in registers open to the public (see A.3 above), we will not republish the information
The record will comprise:
- the decision taken and the date it was taken;
- reason(s) for the decision;
- if any alternative options were considered and rejected;
- a list of background documents; and
- where a decision has been taken under a specific delegated authority under A.1. above, any conflict of interest a councillor has declared.
Please note that you will not be able to see background information or reports considered to be either confidential or exempt.
B. Exclusions:
We will not publish:
- routine administrative and organisational decisions;
- decisions on operational matters such as changes to services and charges;
- decisions on HR proposals;
- decisions which are required to taken by law e.g. grant of an application where no objections have been submitted including tacit consent;
- decisions to give business relief to individual traders;
- decisions to review the benefit claims of an individual applicant;
- decisions to issue parking permits;
- decisions on penalty charge notices, fixed penalty notices and regulatory notices e.g. abatement, enforcement, ant-social behaviour etc.;
- decisions to institute legal proceedings;
- decisions on property related matters (excluding compulsory purchase order matters);
- decisions where there is a right to review, including judicial remedy;
- in the opinion of the relevant Director, other purely administrative or operational decisions concerning our day-to-day workings.
How to request information:
A record of officer decisions is published on our website. You can ask for a copy of any documents (providing they are not categorised as confidential or exempt). Requests for a paper copy of the written decision and background documents must be made to the Council - call our Customer Services on 01322 343434 or contact us using the online contact form contact-us We will supply the information once you have paid for the postage, copying or any other necessary reasonable charges for transmission, which will be determined by us in accordance with our Schedule of Charges.
Alternatively, you may arrange to inspect the record, during office hours, at our offices, situate at the Civic Centre, Home Gardens, Dartford, Kent DA1 1DR. We welcome calls by Relay UK