Complaints about elected and co-opted members (councillors)
Wiltshire Council is responsible for assessing and determining complaints about elected or co-opted members of all local councils within its borders. This includes members of Wiltshire Council and of all parish, town and city councils in Wiltshire.
All councils must have a code of conduct in place.
Wiltshire Council has adopted the following councillor Wiltshire Council Members' Code of Conduct.
Parish, town and city councils in Wiltshire may have adopted different codes, so if you are concerned about the conduct of a city, town or parish councillor you should refer to that council's code of conduct. This can usually be obtained from the relevant Town or Parish council (opens new window) or by contacting the council's clerk.
We can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a councillor when they are acting in their official capacity.
Town or Parish council (opens new window)
We may decide not to take any further action on a complaint where, on the available information, it appears to be vexations, malicious, politically motivated, retaliatory, or does not reach the threshold of representing a potential breach of the Code of Conduct, and it would therefore not be in the public interest to proceed.
A complaint will not normally be taken forward if it is submitted more than 20 working days after the date upon which the Complainant became, or ought reasonably to have become, aware of the matter giving rise to the complaint.
Complaints will be assessed in accordance with the arrangements set out in Protocol 11 (opens new window) of the Wiltshire Council Constitution and the Localism Act 2011.
If you think that a councillor may have been in breach of their code and you wish to complain, please either:
- use this online form Complaints about elected and co-opted members (councillors) form for complaints about councillors, or
- complete the Members complaint form (Word doc, 151 KB)(opens new window) and either:
email it to MonitoringOfficer@Wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window)
or print it off and post to:
The Monitoring Officer
Wiltshire Council
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN
We are aware that iPad users can have difficulty opening the Word version, if you cannot open it, please print the Members complaint form (Word doc, 151 KB)(opens new window).
If you can not access the PDF or Word forms please email governance@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window), write to us (address above) or call us (01225 718400), to discuss provision of accessible documents.
When completing the form, please state which council your complaint relates to and which parts of its code of conduct you believe the councillor to have breached. Please provide details of specific incident(s), including information such as direct quotes, correspondence and dates. If insufficient information is provided, the complaint cannot be assessed, and no further action may be taken.
When we receive your complaint, we will conduct an initial assessment of the matter and we may give the councillor concerned the opportunity to respond. We will then consider if it should be referred for formal assessment by the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee. You will be informed if your complaint is being referred to the Assessment Sub-Committee and of your right to attend that meeting, should you so wish.
Complaints will not normally proceed to a formal assessment if they are considered to be trivial or vexatious.
The members complaint form and Protocol 11 can be found in the downloads section of this page.
The council has produced a toolkit to help support local councillors and clerks promote positive conduct and democracy. The toolkit and more information can be found on our dedicated page Positive Conduct equals Positive Democracy .