Increase in complaints against councillors for not declaring interests

There was an increase in complaints against councillors for failing to declare interests during the last financial year.

A total of 36 complaints were lodged against councillors from May 2019 to April 2020.

Parish councillors received 28 complaints while five were made against county councillors with three being withdrawn.

Monitoring officer Claire Ward told last week’s audit and governance meeting: “We’ve had an increase in failing to declare interests.”

Chairman Nigel Shaw said parish councils in Walford and Llangarron had received six complaints each and that the monitoring officer will be

providing training for them.

He asked if the council should keep an eye on parish council resignations as a means of tracking where things are going wrong in the county.