Councillor responding to mail sent to 'the council'

Question

This is a bit of a long one so bear with me.  We have recently had a grant application from a community group. We have a grant policy in place and an application form that includes a checklist of the documents that need to be sent, bank mandate, supporting letter etc.  The applicant made little effort and most of the documentation wasn't sent. We did not support the grant, not because we didn't want to support them but because it application wasn't eligible.  The policy and form were put in place to ensure that all grants are treated fairly and equally. We even have an assessment form to use internally when deciding on them, which it failed at the first hurdle, eligibility.

The applicant has now sent an email expressing their disappointment quite strongly (and not without a little entitlement). They asked for this email to be shared with Councillors, which it has. The Chair has now asked me, as Chair of Finance, to respond explaining a little more about the policy and why it is in place. This is following email comments from several Councillors after seeing the email from the applicant. I haven't yet done so but our Clerk has now joined in saying that any further response must be decided at full Council.
I always thought that a communication to all Councillors could be responded to by individual Councillors if they so wished.  Appreciate any thoughts (and legislation) on this.

Answer 1

The Local Government Act specifically excludes the right of any individual councillor to act alone on behalf of the council and there is no individual status to being a councillor.  Emails should be sent to "the council" rather than to individual councillors so "the council" as a separate body should respond.  The Clerk, as Proper Officer, should always respond but I agree sometimes it may be better if an individual other than the Clerk signs a letter or email.  In such circumstances, I would expect this to be delegated by the council (or the relevant committee if appropriate) and the delegation is usually worded as being the Chair of X in conjunction with the Clerk, or something similar.

Comments

Thank you Delboy'wife.  For further information, the proposed reply, by the Chair of Finance which is me, was not to express any sort of opinion but purely to explain that the Grant Policy was put in place to ensure that all applicants are treated equally and fairly.  And how once the Council has adopted a policy they have to follow it. I suggested this to try and reduce the animosity that came across in the reply from the applicant.  The Clerk did of course inform them that their grant was not accepted and listed the missing documents etc but the applicant seems to think that we can overlook this and do what we want.

I checked with the Clerk yesterday to ask if it was ok for me to send such an email. At no time did she say no you can't. She just said as it wasn't discussed at Finance Committee (amount requested too high) but at full Council, ask the Chair of Council. I did that and the Chair of Council was more than happy for me to write as we discussed. To make it even further annoying the Clerk has sent an email this morning saying that and letter/email needs to be agreed at full Council. Why on earth didn't she say that to me yesterday! We don't meet in August and I feel September is leaving it too late. But at the same time the issue does not warrant an Extraordinary Meeting.

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This is patently incorrect:

“...there is no individual status to being a councillor...”

Of course there is - each INDIVIDUAL represents their own opinion - it only becomes a corporate position after it is debated by individuals and then resolved by the corporate while.
Then you go on to present one of your characteristically non-committal double answers where you state only the clerk can respond and then contradict that by saying a delegates Cllr can respond.
Consistent inconsistencies...

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Its funny you should mention the word delegate but I am learning a  lot when researching my recent Earmarked reserves thread and Fin Regs.  As a part of that exercise it talks of the theoretical delegating of tasks to a Committee or an officer of the Council (LGA 1972 s101) but not to an individual  member Councillor.  So I ask under what authority/legislation is an individual Councillor allowed to communicate on behalf of a PC?  Not saying they cant just need to get this clear in my head

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Richmondlad this is why I said the usual delegation wording would be for the councillor in conjunction with the clerk, i.e. not to an individual councillor which would be contrary to the Local Government Act.

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RoundAgainCoxn. I do take on board what Delboy'swife has said. But then again I am not intending to write expressing an opinion or writing on behalf of the Council. I only intended to write to offer more information about our policy and why it was put in place, as Chair of the Finance Committee I don't really understand why I can't respond to someone offering explanatory information. If they had written directly to my email address I would have replied without thinking twice. I'm only supporting the Councils duly put in place policy. However, the email protesting the non acceptance of the grant application was sent to the clerk, although it expressly said to inform all councillors how disappointed they are. I'm only trying to defuse the situation. Amongst other things the email sent implies discrimination - it was from a Pride group. There was no discrimination, they just didn't follow the policy. Two other Councillors have also expressed concerns about the 'tone' of the email we received. The Chair of Council still wants me to write to them, the clerk has down an about turn and said I shouldn't after first simply saying 'discuss it with the Chair'.  Oh, what to do. I need a stiff drink!

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I think this reply is rather demeaning.  All of on hear try, within the limit of our experience, to offer guidance to others who request it.  Perhaps you could express your opinions in a more kindly manner.  I admit that I fail on this sometimes - so a lesson for us all (including me).