Misuse of grit bins and anti-social behaviour complaints against parish councillors in Daventry district dismissed

The three complaints were made against four parish councillors, whose identities have not been revealed, but required ‘no further action’ with the cases being closed by Daventry District Council. No complaints were made against any district councillors in the year.

All the complaints alleged that the parish councillors had, to some extent, engaged in bullying or intimidating behaviour.

The first case focused on one parish councillor who had been accused of ‘misusing a grit bin’ by a fellow parishioner. The complainant alleged they were ‘particularly offended’ by an email response from the councillor. Although the district council acknowledged in June 2019 that the email from the parish councillor was ‘somewhat blunt’ they decided the councillor was not acting in their capacity as a councillor.

The second complaint was with regards to the ‘hasty’ co-option of a new parish councillor, with the complainant alleging the new member would have ‘potential bias’ and ‘conflicts of interest’ on some planning matters. Complaints were also made about the clerk, the parish council chairman for being ‘unhelpful’ in phone calls and meetings, and the parish councillor for being ‘intimidating’ in a verbal exchange.

The district council did not have the power to consider a complaint against the clerk, but found that due process had been followed in the co-option of the councillor and found in July 2019 that ‘no further action’ against the two councillors was justified.

The third and final complaint, settled in October, was with regards to a parish councillor ‘verbally abusing’ other villagers. Although it was found that the councillor was acting as an individual, and therefore was not bound by the Code of Conduct, it still drew some strong words from the district council.

In its report it stated: “The anti-social behaviour alleged to have occurred, if it occurred, should be unacceptable in normal society and if such behaviour is occurring it should stop – irrespective of any councillor status or Code of Conduct relevance.

“It is important to stress that, if such incidents did occur, they are contemptible and the appropriate course for any due action is via the Police and Daventry District Council’s

community safety team.”

The details were outlined in the annual record of complaints for 2019-20, which was noted at the latest appeals and standards virtual committee meeting on June 9.

The committee report, by the district council’s monitoring officer Tony Gillet, states: “The complaints received were about parish council members but continued at a low level. No cases in the past year required further action. The local complaint handling process again worked well. The Independent Persons were again ready and able, notwithstanding it was another quiet year. They saw no need to alter arrangements locally ahead of any national review.”

Mr Gillet added: “It is pleasing that there were no complaints about Daventry District Council members.”