Must interest be declared at every meeting?

Question

One of our Councillors has some pecuniary interests which he put on the declaration form sent to the monitoring Officer.  Sometimes there would appear to be a conflict of interest with what is on the agenda. However the Chairman and the clerk say that any interest declared to the monitoring officer does not have to be declared again at meetings and that only new interests need to be declared.  Is this true?  Surely it is good practice to declare an interest, even if it is on the members' list of interests and that councillor should withdraw from the discussion (or even the room)?

Our council is confused about this and members don't actually know each others interests.  I feel that it lacks transparency.  Any advice please?

Answer 1

An interest should be declared at a meeting if it relates to a matter being considered.