Parish council held to account +scrutiny

Question

Hi,

From everything I've read, the Parish council is accountable to the public. I've been through the complaints procedure, and I'm not satisfied it's been fair.

Is there any body above the parish to hold them to account. The MO only seems interested if the parish has been aggressive towards myself. To me, breaches of the Nolan principles should be held accountable, but it seems no one gives a jot. (they have not used facts, ignored facts where i've stated them, backed up by law etc)

Can the standards committee at the County council hold the parish to account?

Cheers

Answer 1

You mention the Nolan principles so i assume your complaint is about an individual councillor. In that case the PC should not be invoking their own complaints procedure. It should be the MO that investigates.

As you have found out, it can be very difficult to get the MO to do their job. The CC standard committee only have power over CC councillors so they would be no use.

Unfortunately PC's have the power to behave however they like. Only the most serious things tend to get investigated. Even then, the MO will be trying to find a reason to drop the case.

Answer 2

Broadly speaking, local councils are self-governing in all but the most serious matters. Whilst Monitoring Officers have the power to investigate any matter brought to their attention, they have no authority to issue any form of punishment, unless the matter crosses the threshold for prosecution, which is extremely rare.