Stratford-on-Avon District Council: "Trends" monitored following rise in complaints

A number of councillors serving on the district’s audit and standards committee this week questioned the volume of complaints recorded in a quarterly report.

Councillor Ian Shenton (Con, Wootton Wawen) crunched the numbers from previous reports, suggesting that there had been 30 in the first half of the current financial year compared with 23 across the whole of 2023-24.

The district’s monitoring officer – the most senior legal authority at a council – deals with formal complaints against elected officials representing the district as well as parish councillors.

The report detailed nine complaints against district councillors, one of which is ongoing. No further action was taken on five with one closed off by another body and the rest dealt with informally or through apologies.

There are nine ongoing parish council complaints with 24 closed down without any further action. Three were sorted out informally or with an apology, while another was closed following the resignation of a parish councillor. The details of cases are not published.

The crux of the concern from the committee was around needless complaints coming forward, potentially wasting time and resources.

Councillor Sarah Whalley-Hoggins (Con, Brailes & Compton) said: “I am truly staggered.

“I do not recall ever seeing this magnitude of complaints. This is a phenomenal amount in relation to parish councils and the significance is the amount of officer time this takes to deal with.”

Ms Eccleston expressed hope the issue may be helped by councils and councillors following the civility and respect pledge and following guidance offered through training by the district and associated organisations.

Asked about staff hours and the potential financial impact, Ms Eccleston said it was her job to deal with the complaints, adding: “I am a public servant and I am here to serve, that’s the first thing to say, but it does take a lot of time.

“There can be a cost to it, not just my time but if it goes to a further stage involving external investigators there is a cost there.”

Cllr Shenton referred to the figures as a “significant uptick” with Ms Eccleston saying: “There may well be trends that are forming and they are being looked at confidentially.”

David Roache of Tysoe Parish Council noted that no action had been taken over many cases and asked whether that translated to a lot complaints being "frivolous" or made through a lack of understanding over what the code of conduct for councillors is there for.

Ms Eccleston replied: “Not all of the complaints come from members of the public, they can be from other parties as well.

"We are looking at all of those trends to understand it, and some of that is about the training and education we are trying to do.”

Councillor Jenny Fradgley (Lib Dem, Stratford Guildhall & Bridgetown) floated the prospect of a report to the committee on such trends but Ms Eccleston shut that down.

“These types of complaints are meant to be dealt with confidentially, there won’t be any further report coming forward on this,” she said.