North Yorkshire councillor faced official complaint for refusing to sign get well soon card

A refusal to sign a get well soon card, allegations that a meeting was “shouty and sweary” and poor email etiquette were among the bizarre reasons councillors in North Yorkshire faced official complaints last year.

A report that went before North Yorkshire Council’s standards and governance committee referred to the hundreds of complaints made against councillors and said officials were struggling to cope with the sheer volume of them.

From April 2023 until June 2024, the council received 223 complaints regarding the conduct of elected members.

It said a “high proportion” of these were related to just three parish councils but the names of these were deemed to be confidential.

North Yorkshire Council had assessed 179 of these complaints with 145 meriting no further action, including the complaint regarding the get well soon card.

Councillors blamed increased media coverage of meetings and a “changing culture” for the rise in complaints.

Of the 28 complaints referred for investigation just one has been completed. This judged the councillor had not breached the council’s code of conduct.

The committee acknowledged that more resources are needed to match the number of complaints.

An officer told the meeting: 

The meeting also heard that a cross-party group had been set up to look at beefing up security for councillors after concerns were raised about the public being a potential threat at open meetings.

However, they noted the issue was being caused by a small minority of people.