Call for tighter council rules over property interests
RULES should be tightened to ensure Birmingham politicians who own or have links to properties in the city always declare them to ensure full transparency for voters, say councillors.
Updated guidance would close any loopholes amid concerns about the explosion in the number of local homes now being leased as ‘exempt’ supported accommodation.
Cllr Sharon Thompson, who leads on the council’s housing and homelessness portfolio, is pressing for a new layer of transparency around property ownership to ensure there are no potential conflicts of interest.
She wants the Council Code of Conduct updated so any elected member or their partner has to declare the use of all other properties they own or have an interest in.
A standards investigation is currently under way into the property affairs of newly elected Labour councillor Amar Khan.
Mr Khan’s family owns two housing companies, Select Homes UK Ltd and Select Estates Properties Ltd, both based in Slade Road, Erdington.
He resigned as a director from both companies earlier this year.
It is not clear if he properly declared those interests when he stood for, and was subsequently elected to, his paid councillor role. An investigation by the council’s Standards Committee will determine if Mr Khan broke any rules.
Earlier this year the Post also quizzed former Labour city councillor Paulette Hamilton, now MP for Erdington, about the use of a property in her family’s ownership. At the time she was unable to say if it was leased to an exempt housing company. The property has since been sold.
Councillors Sharon Thompson and Raqeeb Aziz have jointly framed a motion recommending a tighter form of words be included in the declared interests guidance to avoid any confusion.
It is included in a wider motion focussed on the exempt housing sector.
The number of Birmingham properties now housing vulnerable people who need additional support exceeds 8,000.