Public investigating conduct complaints

Question

I have been informed that a local authority is looking to appoint two Parish representatives who may be consulted where a complaint is made about the conduct of a Councillor in the borough. Has anyone heard of this? Thoughts?

Answer 1

Our principal authority has a standards board that considers complaints against councillors in the borough including complaints against parish councillors.  In the first instance the monitoring officer will give a ruling but in some circumstances complaints are referred to the board.  The board is made up of various members but does include independent members and representatives from town and parish councils.

Comments

Thank you for replying. The LA is looking to appoint two Parish Councillors who will investigate complaints working with the monitoring officer and the Cllr who has been complained about. No mention of a standards board. The LA has stated that complaints are currently single figures. It will be interesting if these appointments encourage more people to come forward and complain about their Council representatives.

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Of course there still remains the question of what sanctions such a committee would actually have over someone who had been found to be in contravention of the code of conduct. A lot of LA standards committees have effectively been abandoned. Our LA one hasn't me for over 10 years.

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It’s not unusual Parish Councillors sit on our members panel if a complaint is being considered

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Thanks Mentorman and I agree hence my posting on here...