External review a ‘last resort’ to stop endless complaints at Steyning Parish Council

Horsham District Council has called in Hoey Ainscough Associates in the hope of stopping the ‘internal disputes and infighting’ in the words of one officer.

Eight code of conduct complaints were made against Steyning parish councillors in 2019, 15 in 2020 and 26 in 2021.

Sharon Evans, HDC’s monitoring officer, told a standards committee meeting on Wednesday (March 16) there were 16 outstanding complaints at various stages of the process, resulting in more than 1,600 pages of documentation in total.

Around eight are close to completion, but were the decision notices to be issued, she suggested they would merely trigger counter complaints.

Ms Evans described Hoey Ainscough as ‘true experts in their field’ and the work would ‘not be to point the finger of blame’ but offer support and make recommendations so the parish council could find a way to work effectively, rebuild relationships and restore its reputation.

She said: “Everybody wants support and every member we spoke to is pretty much at the end of their tether also and wants a way of improving the situation.”

The advice is to carry out a review and ‘draw a line’ under the pending complaints meaning all existing investigations would halt.

She explained: “We need to look elsewhere and look for this alternative resolution. Complaint after complaint, decision notice after decision notice, it achieves nothing.”

The committee heard how HDC officers had gone above and beyond, but Ms Evans said this new course was now a ‘last resort’  for her. She added: “This is something we need to try.”

Members of the standards committee agreed to the review and for no further action to be taken in relation to any of the outstanding complaints pending this alternative resolution.

Diana van der Klugt (Con, Pulborough, Coldwaltham and Amberley) was concerned about the impact dealing with these huge numbers of complaints was having on HDC’s staff, adding: “The normal way of dealing with it has not resulted in success.”

Brian Donnelly (Con, Pulborough, Coldwaltham and Amberley), the committee’s chairman, hoped the review would allow the parish council to ‘get back on a proper footing’.

He added: “We wish to draw a line under a situation which is not satisfactory whatsoever.”

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