Code of Conduct - TrustNews Sept 02
Extract from Code of Conduct adopted by the Council of the Trust
Members of the Trust Council must:
1. Fulfil their statutory responsibilities as Charity Trustees:
2. Not act on behalf of the interests of a political party or any other organisation or person, but confine their actions to the furtherance of the 0 purposes of the Trust as set out in the Memorandum of Association:
3. Declare any interest (whether personal commercial, or as a member of another organisation in matters being dealt with, and absent themselves from the committee room while such matters are being discussed;
4. At all times conduct their dealings with the Trust with the sole object of furthering the declared aims of the Trust, and avoid any action leading to personal gain or aggrandisement;
5. Not divulge any matter discussed in Council which has been declared confidential by the Chairman:
In order to pursue the planning objectives of the Trust, the Council has evolved the following general guidelines:
The decision-making role in planning matters lies with the elected representatives in national, county and district councils as they alone have the authority and the personnel to carry out what they have decided.
The Trust seeks to have a role in this process by endeavouring to inform and influence the decision makers.
It is impossible to influence elected members by outright confrontation and insisting that they are wrong. Influence is only obtained by reasoned argument.
If we wish to influence the decision-makers, we must earn their respect by seeking to understand what they do and the way they do it.
In order to understand what they do we should keep in close touch with councillors, officers, transport experts, architects, developers and, above all, with our members and all local residents.
Since the Trust's foundation in 1957 we have sought to include architects, councillors and transport experts on our Council so that they can offer their wisdom and experience in our deliberations.
We also welcome the attendance of representatives of the Planning department at Trust Council meetings for relevant items on the agenda.