Where can he go next?

Question

A Parish Councillor submitted a Code of Conduct complaint to the District Council's Monitoring Officer after having been vilified by the Chair, the Clerk, and two village residents during a meeting of the Parish Council. Subsequent minutes contained a one sided account of events with no opportunity given for a response. A solicitors advice is that the action taken amounted to defamation.

Twenty working days have elapsed since submission of the complaint, with no formal acknowledgement, no contact to explore the substance of the complaint, and no response to an e-mail enquiry about progress.

The intention is to send a final request for information on progress and a resolution to the issue. If there is still no response it is difficult to judge what to do next other than a direct complaint to the Standards Committee.

Can Counterpoint advise?

Answer 1

The details of the procedure for handling complaints varies from council to council. You will need to check the procedure for your particular District Council. It may contain quite lax time limits on action by the Monitoring Officer. To be considered by the Standards Committee it is likely to have to go through the Monitoring Officer first. If the District Council's procedure is not being complied with, you can raise a formal complaint with the District Council.

Of course you can take legal action for defamation, although you will be up against a council that is protected by insurance against libel and slander claims, and it could be costly. A lot depends on whether you have any support for legal costs.

Or you can embark on your own PR campaign.