The Leader of Nottingham City Council says he does not apologise for having not resigned from the board of a housing company yet. Labour's David Mellen said he would step down from the board of Blueprint (General Partner) Limited by the end of May after receiving advice about a "perceived" conflict of interest.
Nottingham City Council then said that Councillor Mellen would instead step down once a replacement has been appointed, giving no indication as to when this was likely. Both Councillor Mellen and Labour's Councillor Leslie Ayoola remain active directors of the company.
The issue was raised at a full meeting of the council on Monday (July 10) by Councillor Andrew Rule, who asked why instructions from the Improvement and Assurance Board (IAB) overseeing improvements at the city council had not been "complied with." In terms of why he was stepping down, Councillor Mellen explained in May: "Executive members with perceived conflicts have agreed to step down from boards where there is an actual or perceived conflict."
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But explaining why this had not happened yet, Councillor Mellen said at Monday's meeting: "Completing this process will take longer than previously envisaged, but will result in strong appointments. Rather than leave company boards like Blueprint short of directors, existing directors will resign once the new appointments have been made."
Referring to Councillor Rule's previous position as a Conservative Party councillor, rather than his current status as an independent, Councillor Mellen later said: "Absolutely, I intend to resign from the Blueprint board but I don't apologise for staying on the board until a new person is there.
"New situations require people to change their minds sometimes, or to delay that decision. You Councillor Rule know that better than anybody, the last time you were elected to this chamber was for a different party and you changed your mind."
Blueprint was formed in 2005 and is partly owned by Nottingham City Council. The company has worked on projects across the East Midlands, including the redevelopment of parts of The Meadows.
The council recently approved a new policy on appointing directors to the companies it owns, which also include EnviroEnergy and Nottingham City Transport. The policy has been drawn up under instruction from the Government-backed IAB.
The new policy reads: "Whilst it will be the norm that officers, not members, will be appointed as directors, this should not prevent the council from appointing members as directors where that is considered to be in the best interests of the company and the council." But the policy also adds: "A member as director must not be a party to making a decision of the council affecting the company, but may proffer evidence or advice to the council on the company's behalf when invited to do so."
Councillor Mellen added: "Having taken advice from the monitoring officer, his view is that to leave the board short of directors until the new ones are appointed would be de-stabilising and I agree with that."
