Council officers are continuing to face a "sustained heavy workload" dealing with complaints about the conduct of councillors in North Yorkshire.
A report to North Yorkshire Council’s standards and governance committee reveals 183 complaints were received during 2025/26, up from 133 the previous year and nine more than during the first year following local government reorganisation.
A further 46 complaints were received between April 1 and August 27 this year.
The council is responsible for handling complaints alleging breaches of codes of conduct by its own 90 members as well as councillors serving the county’s 411 parish and town councils.
North Yorkshire has more parish and town councils than any other local authority in the country, with the next highest, Somerset, having 272 plus three groups of councils.
The report says the volume of complaints, associated correspondence and information governance requests has created a “sustained heavy workload” for officers and the council’s Independent Persons during the three years since the new unitary authority was created.
Although complaints slowed during 2024/25, their number increased again last year.
Of the 46 received so far this municipal year, 12 were rejected at a pre-assessment stage.
Reasons included complaints being about general parish governance rather than an individual councillor’s conduct, councillors not acting in their official capacity, insufficient evidence being provided, or the alleged behaviour not amounting to a code breach even if proven.
Another 34 progressed to full assessment. Five have been referred for investigation, while 23 were judged not to merit formal investigation or further action and six remain awaiting assessment.
Examples of those not taken further include an anonymous complaint about a North Yorkshire councillor, an allegation that another councillor misrepresented comments, and complaints against two parish councillors where insufficient evidence of a potential breach was provided.
Another allegation against a parish councillor was considered insufficiently serious to warrant investigation.
Several investigations remain live, including one involving multiple complaints against a single North Yorkshire councillor and another concerning a parish councillor.
Despite the workload, the report says average processing times have been significantly reduced following the introduction of pre-assessment and other measures designed to streamline the system.
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