Councillors Disclosures of Pecuniary Interests

Question

Please can you let me know if a Parish Councillor has to declare an interest in land within the parish that he/she is a Tenant of, a hay crop is taken from this land every year, and it is land where the Councillor in question is also trying to develop and has set up a Limited company in this respect, at the present time, the Parish Council are not involved with the proposed development, although it was at the start of the negotiations and now has only stood aside because of the registering of the Limited company.

Answer 1

Yes,

All land owned, or to which a councillor or their spouse has an interest, must declare it on their public declaration of interests. It should be easily accessible from the parish council website or the district council if they do not have a website.

They must also declare members of any organisation, political and trade union memberships etc.

Answer 2

As somebodyelse has said, it must be declared. The applicable legislation is the schedule to The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, which includes the following:

Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the area of the relevant authority.

Licences - Any licence (alone or jointly with others) to occupy land in the area of the relevant authority for a month or longer.