North Yorkshire Council has been urged to improve its handling of complaints against councillors after it emerged allegations levelled against an senior elected member had gone unanswered for months.
The call comes after some residents of the North York Moors visitor hotspot of Thornton le Dale lodged numerous complaints with North Yorkshire Council over Councillor Janet Sanderson’s interactions with the parish council and parishioners.
The call comes amid rising animosity between residents over Thornton le Dale Parish Council and a non-binding poll conducted by North Yorkshire Council which saw a majority of residents who voted calling for the parish council to be dissolved.
A meeting of the parish council last week saw most of the council’s members walk out after tempers frayed just minutes into the meeting while the results of the poll and the 16 per cent turnout for the vote were discussed.
North Yorkshire Council is looking to offer parish councils more responsibilities and decision-making powers.
The complaints, the stage of which North Yorkshire Council has declined to discuss, are understood to have been dismissed on Friday, less than two days after being pressed over why they remained outstanding.
Two of the complaints were originally lodged by residents in January, but after receiving no response, they were resubmitted in March, but again received no response from the authority’s legal officers.
They included claims Coun Sanderson, who is the council’s executive member for children and families, had breached the councillors’ code of conduct when conversing with villagers and while filming a meeting of the parish council.
The code of conduct outlines standards of behaviour that councillors must adhere to, such as treating everyone with respect and not acting in an intimidating manner.
One of the complainants, who has asked not to be named, said the council did not send an acknowledgement of the complaints until after three letters had been sent directly to the authority’s chief executive, questioning why no action had taken place.
In June, a senior legal officer wrote to residents, apologising for the delay in processing the complaints, stating it was “due to my oversight”.
While the letter included an assurance the complaints were being dealt with in accordance with council procedures, in a later letter to the council one resident warned its failure to deal with the complaint promptly had given the appearance of the authority “closing ranks”.
Coun Janet Sanderson said she had responded to the complaints in full giving evidence in detail and had filmed the parish council in a bid to improve people’s behaviour at meetings.
She added: “I understand legal officers have got 731 parish councils and if they have got complaints from a lot of parish councils how is it handled? It’s not right that complaints are not handled in a more timely way.”
When asked why the council had taken six months to deal with the complaints, a North Yorkshire Council spokesman said: “Complaints that a councillor may have breached the council’s code of conduct for members are dealt with through our ethical framework, overseen by the standards and governance committee.
“As a matter of policy we do not comment on or confirm any individual complaints.”
[tptn_list limit=3 daily=1 hour_range=1]