Decision details

(i)       to request the Interim Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure to provide a response to the Committee relating to the background of the case between December 2015 and February 2016 and also to advise whether a draft report on the funding was ever issued to Committee;

(ii)      to note the Investigation Report and Recommendations and in particular in the Recommendations section of Appendix 1 paragraphs 6.18 (“Sustrans funding would have been made available irrespective of who owned the affected land…”); 4.64 (“… it seems obvious that emergency work was undertaken as there was an immediate and identifiable health and safety risk…”); 4.67 (“It was appropriate for Councillor Young to seek advice from the Monitoring Officer in order to address any perception that he was conflicted in his interests”); 4.68 (“The Monitoring Officer has stated that based on the information available to him at the time, Councillor Young did not require to declare a conflict of interest because he had not been asked to make a decision as a Councillor on the works or the grant, but rather to provide his consent as a landowner.”); and paragraph 7.9 (“Councillor Young’s actions did not contravene the ICT Acceptable Use Policy as the emails did not concern any confidential information, were not protectively marked, and had been addressed to Councillor Young”);

(iii)      to note the Management Response to the recommendations of the Investigation Report;

(iv)     to nstruct the Director of Communities, Housing & infrastructure to report back to the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee at a future date to provide evidence of how the wider Service Review of the Planning and Sustainable Development Service referred to in paragraph 3.8.5 is taking full account of the need to implement additional safeguards to ensure that any debatable land ownership and contract procurement issues are appropriately escalated, resolved and recorded;

(v)      to instruct the Chief Executive on behalf of Aberdeen City Council to apologise to former councillor Young for the failure to follow council policy and procedure detailed in Appendix 1 which placed him in a vulnerable position; and

(vi)     to request that the report be issued to Audit Scotland for their consideration.