Councillors in Brighton and Hove attract more complaints than politicians elected to other councils, according to a new report.
And comments posted on social media were a “common factor” in complaints from the public, Brighton and Hove City Council said.
A “standards panel” is expected to be asked to give its verdict on three of the latest batch of complaints, according to the report.
The report said that an external trainer had been helping councillors to learn about the “challenges and opportunities” of using social media.
And in the past couple of years, two formal investigations were “outsourced” at a cost of almost £5,000 to the council.
The report, to the council’s Audit and Standards Committee, said that 11 unnamed councillors were the subject of complaints. Seven of those were the subject of two or more complaints.
Fourteen complaints were made about Conservative councillors, ten about Greens, one about a Labour member and one about an Independent.
Other councils received fewer complaints, the report said, compared with the number – more than two a month on average – made about members in Brighton and Hove.
From April 2021 to last March, West Sussex County Council received four complaints and East Sussex County Council received three.
Southampton City Council received one complaint which did not require investigation while Bristol City Council received five complaints, none of which required investigation.
The report – Brighton and Hove City Council’s annual review of standards – said that 26 complaints about councillors were made in 2022, down from 36 in 2021 and 33 in 2020.
Twenty-three of the 26 complaints were made by the public and three by other councillors.
Complaints were typically made about the way that councillors did – or didn’t – carry out their duties in their ward as well as their comments or behaviour at meetings or on social media.
The report said that not all councillors had responded to officials when complaints had been referred to a council standards panel.
In one case, referred to as “A/2022”, the unnamed councillor was asked to delete a comment made during a debate with a resident on social media by the council’s monitoring officer Abraham Ghebre-Ghiorghis but did not respond.
Nine complaints were made about Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth, who was not named in the report, after online exchanges about a story in the Daily Mail last February.
The story was headlined: “Parent fury as Brighton primary schools tell staff NOT to say ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ and use ‘grown ups’ instead to avoid stigmatising ‘non-traditional’ families.”
In response to the Daily Mail article, the council said: “Recent reports claiming four Brighton schools are not allowing the words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ to be used are untrue.”
Two of the complaints against Councillor Nemeth – “E/2022” and “J/2022” – were referred to a council standards panel last month, with hearing dates yet to be set.
The report said that the council had “no means of compelling” councillors to co-operate with investigations.
And there was no power to suspend a member who had been found to have breached the council’s code of conduct.
The report is due to be debated by the council’s Audit and Standards Committee on Tuesday 24 January. The meeting is scheduled to start at 4pm and to be webcast on the council’s website.
Could we not refer to councillors as politicians please?
There are councillors who work hard to represent their wards, independent of which party they are linked to. They realise they are accountable to the electorate and listen to their needs and work towards what is best for the city including residents, businesses, and the local economy.
There are other who view becoming a councillor as being the start of a political career with the chance of getting their own pet schemes implemented and don’t care about the consequences. They ignore those who disagree with their plans and treat them with contempt.
I wonder which councillors fit into each group?
There are noble and nefarious people in every walk of life Peter, and I would wager that the council is no different.
Is it any surprise that B&H councillors attract more complaints? They are the most obviously incompetent and self-serving bunch of wasters in the country.
26 complaints over the course of a year is hardly worth such a dramatic response, when you consider the uniqueness of Brighton, of course it is going to attract more impassioned responses.
Is it any surprise that B&H councillors attract more complaints? Brighton & Hove has the most obviously incompetent and self-serving bunch of complainers in the whole country.
I received an email today asking me to fill in an anonymous survey about any interaction I’ve had with the council in the past 12 months. The email includes:-
” At Brighton & Hove City Council, we are committed to keeping our Customer Promise to you which is:
We will make it clear how you can contact or access our services
We will be clear and treat you with respect
We will understand and get things done”
Where does one start?
The beginning I find this to be the most effective place to start Chris. But in seriousness, articulate yourself well and in a respectful manner to these things. Some of the writing I’ve seen people submit to other random things has been really weak in terms of conciseness, grammar, and devoid of solution-based criticism.