Members’ interestsS
18(1)A member who is in any way directly or indirectly interested in any matter which is brought up for consideration at a meeting of a National Park authority must disclose the nature of the interest to the meeting; and, where such a disclosure is made—
(a)the disclosure must be recorded in the minutes of the meeting, and
(b)the member must not take any part in any deliberation or decision of the authority or of any of its committees with respect to that matter.
(2)For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), a general notification given at a meeting of the authority by a member to the effect that the member—
(a)is a member of a specified company or firm, and
(b)is to be regarded as interested in any matter involving that company or firm,
is to be regarded as a sufficient disclosure of the member’s interest in relation to any such matter.
(3)A member need not attend in person at a meeting of the authority in order to make a disclosure required to be made under this paragraph if the member takes reasonable steps to secure that the disclosure is made by a notice which is read and considered at the meeting.
(4)The Scottish Ministers may, subject to such conditions as they consider appropriate, remove any disability imposed by virtue of this paragraph in any case where the number of members of an authority disabled by virtue of this paragraph at any one time would be so great a proportion of the whole as to impede the transaction of business.
(5)The power of the Scottish Ministers under sub-paragraph (4) includes power to remove, either indefinitely or for any period, a disability which would otherwise attach to any member, or members of any description, by reason of such interests, and in respect of such matters, as may be specified or described by the Scottish Ministers.
(6)Nothing in this paragraph precludes any member from taking part in the consideration or discussion of, or voting on, any question whether an application should be made to the Scottish Ministers for the exercise of the power conferred by sub-paragraph (4).
(7)In this paragraph—
(a)any reference to a meeting of an authority includes a reference to a meeting of any of its committees,
(b)any reference to a member includes a reference to a person who is not a member of the authority but who is a member of any such committee.
Modifications etc. (not altering text)