Council to refer to police failure by former cabinet member to register disclosable pecuniary interest correctly

Cornwall Council has said it will refer to the police a former councillor's failure to correctly register his disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) upon becoming Head of Air and Space at Cornwall Airport.

In an assessment decision notice made public on 9 June, the council's assurance officer, Simon Mansell, also concluded that Louis Gardner failed to declare a non-registerable interest at a meeting of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Economic Prosperity Board on 27 February 2025, where the agenda included an item involving a vote on £200,000 in funding for Spaceport, which is a project owned and run by Cornwall Airport.

Gardner had accepted the role at Cornwall Airport the day before the meeting of the Economic Prosperity Board.

His DPI arose on the commencement of his employment, the report said, which was believed to be on 17 March 2025. On 11 April, he made enquiries as to who he should send an update to. However, the Democratic Lead at Cornwall told Mansell that there had been no further communication from Gardner on updating his register. He stopped being a councillor on 1 May.

Mansell found that Gardner, who was a cabinet member and portfolio holder for economy, had breached a series of provisions set out in Cornwall's Code of Conduct.

In relation to the failure to correctly declare his DPI, the assessment decision notice said this might represent a failure to comply with the requirements of Section 30 of the Localism Act 2011, "and this part of the complaint will be forwarded to the police to allow them to consider if an offence under Section 34 of the Localism Act has been committed".

Section 34 of the 2011 Act makes it a criminal offence if a member "fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with requirements under section 30 or 31 to register or declare disclosable pecuniary interests".

It also empowers the magistrates' court, upon conviction, to impose a fine of up to £5,000 and an order disqualifying the person from being a member of a relevant authority for up to five years.

In relation to the failure to declare a non-registerable interest, the decision notice said: "[W]hilst a breach of this nature would normally in a recommendation of a censure, as the Subject Member is no longer a Councillor no further action can be taken beyond the referral to the police."

The council's monitoring officer, Matthew Stokes had submitted the complaint alongside another councillor.

The assessment decision notice said that, at the time of the board meeting, Gardner would not have had a DPI, "but he clearly had a non-registerable interest because of the Spaceport appointment".

The notice added that the funding decision might reasonably be regarded as affecting the financial position of Spaceport, "which might also reasonably be regarded as affecting [Gardner's] wellbeing (by providing funding for Spaceport that he would then have at least some responsibility for and which would enable him to succeed in his role)".

Mansell suggested that Gardner had breached the following provisions of the council's code of conduct:

• You must not conduct yourself in a manner which is contrary to the council's duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by Members.
• You must not conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or the council into disrepute.
• You must not use or attempt to use your position as a Member of the Council improperly to confer on or to secure for yourself or any other person an advantage or disadvantage.
• Declaration of interest at a meeting.
• Registration of new disclosable pecuniary interests.

Gardner argued that he had weighed up everything at the time of the meeting but decided he did not have an interest to declare as he had not started employment with Cornwall Airport and had not yet been given a contract.

He also said that the Spaceport programme was a long-standing council project which was already fully endorsed by the Cabinet. In light of this, he said he believed he was "merely endorsing" a Cornwall Council project.

He said that he would have sought legal advice but was "very wary" about informing anybody about his forthcoming move and wished to honour an agreement between him and the airport's managing director on who would be informed and when.

"I did not trust officers or councillors within the room to not leak news of my employment to the media or elsewhere", he said.

In addition, Gardner contended that the grant that was awarded during the meeting mostly went to a consultancy firm and "made absolutely no impact" on Spaceport's financial standing.

Gardner also asserted that "literally everybody" at the council was aware of his registerable interest before he had even started employment.

He said the entire council had been informed and that the complainant "knew every detail" of his employment, having provided legal advice surrounding his appointment.

He also noted that the complaint was submitted while he was on holiday and that he updated the register upon his return.

With regards to the complaint, Gardner said: “I did not ‘have interests in my mind about bringing my office into disrepute’. The absolute opposite is true, everything I did was to protect both the council and Cornwall Airport Limited. I had no idea that supporting an existing and longstanding Cornwall Council project, which I had already supported previously on multiple occasions would bring anybody into disrepute. However, I am very sorry for the harm which this has caused.”

Mansell ultimately found that the code had been breached.

He concluded: "I cannot see that the Subject Member had a reasonable excuse for not registering his interests. 

"A last-minute enquiry was made before going on holiday, but this was at the 11th hour, and the Subject Member has 28 days to act and register his employment."

It added: "Whilst the failure to register the interest is a breach of the Code, in order to ensure this is dealt with as is required by the legislation this part of the complaint this will be forwarded to the police to allow them to consider if an offence under section 34 of the Localism Act has been committed."

The decision also said that in failing to declare an interest, Gardner "failed to follow one of the most basic concepts of the code with regards to ensuring that 'if in doubt, get out'".

The decision note said: "There is nothing in the submission by the Subject Member which can excuse the failure to do this and by saying he did not declare an interest because he did not trust officers or members gives the impression to the reader that he was dismissive of any professional advice and his fellow Cabinet members who he had worked with for the last few years."

The report said that the breach would normally result in a recommendation of a censure, but no further action would be taken in this case, given Gardner is no longer a councillor.

Adam Carey