South Cambridgeshire District Council

With 105 settlements spread over 350 square miles, and 57 district councillors in South Cambridgeshire, getting key messages about ethical standards across to everyone, and providing the necessary training, could have proved problematic.

Originally, there were issues relating to parish councillors having to travel to the authority’s main offices to receive training. To manage this potential isolation, a standards newsletter is now issued to members four times a year, and parishes have been supplied with a parish toolkit and advice on conducting meetings.

The authority’s ideas to ensure members were kept in the loop, regardless of their geographical location, helped them to secure a nomination in the Standards and Ethics category.

Chair of South Cambridgeshire’s standards committee Kathy English describes the authority as unique because of its location, which surrounds Cambridge City Council: “We totally surround another council and there are no towns or cities in our area. It means there is no central focus for us and we have struggled to have a strong identity. Over the last few years this has improved.”

Kathy says the authority were delighted to be shortlisted for the Standards and Ethics Award, and considered their nomination to be “a great compliment”.

“There’s been an enormous change in ethics here over the last 5 yrs,” says Kathy, “We really thought of our entry as a thank you to all those involved.”

One of the key areas of focus for South Cambridgeshire has been changing perceptions among members.

“Officers and the standards committee have worked extremely hard to promote the Code (of Conduct),” says Kathy, “There was a perception previously that the Code was like ‘big brother’. We have assured them that this isn’t the case.

“Communication is absolutely essential to ensure that new councillors are trained and understand that the standards committee is there to help them.”

Communicating standards to the public is a matter close to South Cambridgeshire’s collective heart. The public’s perception of the authority has been poor and some were suspicious about the standards process.  The standards committee has been working hard to change this.

Kathy says their aim is to make it clear to the public that complaints are taken seriously by the authority, something she believes is reflected in their mission statement, ‘To support and enhance the democratic process in South Cambridgeshire by acting as the guardians of ethical conduct for the public we serve, and elected members.’

“It’s a soundbite,” Kathy explains, “It reminds us of who we are and what we stand for.”