Politics Hundreds of complaints made against North Yorkshire councillors last year including refusal to sign get well soon card By Thomas Barrett, Local Democracy Reporting Service Published 12th Jul 2024, 10:13 BST Comment Watch more of our videos on Shots! and live on Freeview channel 276 Visit Shots! now A refusal to sign a get well soon card, allegations that a meeting was “shouty and sweary” and poor email etiquette were among the bizarre reasons councillors in North Yorkshire faced official complaints last year. A report that went before North Yorkshire Council’s standards and governance committee referred to the hundreds of complaints made against councillors and said officials were struggling to cope with the sheer volume of them. From April 2023 until June 2024, the council received 223 complaints regarding the conduct of elected members.
Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sign up to our daily The Scarborough News Today newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to The Scarborough News, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later.
Submitting...
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Notice and Terms of Service apply. It said a “high proportion” of these were related to just three parish councils but the names of these were deemed to be confidential. From April 2023 until June 2024, North Yorkshire Council received 223 complaints regarding the conduct of their members North Yorkshire Council had been able to assess 179 of these complaints with 145 meriting no further action including the complaint regarding the get well soon card.
Councillors blamed increased media coverage of meetings and a “changing culture” for the rise in complaints. Of the 28 complaints that were referred for investigation just one has been completed. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This judged the councillor had not breached the council’s code of conduct.
The committee acknowledged that more resources are needed to match the number of complaints. An officer told the meeting: “The figures were higher than previously and at an exceptional level. "The time taken to assess and handle all the complaints was substantial.
” Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The meeting also heard that a cross-party group had been set up to look at beefing up security for councillors after concerns were raised about the public being a potential threat at open meetings. However, they noted the issue was being caused by a small minority of people. Related topics: North Yorkshire Councillors Comment Comment Guidelines National World encourages reader discussion on our stories.
User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting..
