NEWLY elected councillors are being reminded they will have to adhere to strict standards of behaviour or risk being banned from office.
With Wyre Forest District Council elections taking place today, the Standards Board for England has issued a warning that councillors guilty of "inappropriate behaviour" are now subject to a new complaints procedure.
From this week councillors can be held to account if they break a code of conduct.
Most councils have signed up to the new procedure but a number of parish councillors in Wyre Forest have refused to register interests and are set to lose their seats.
Among them are Rock parish councillors John Rushton, Tony Wood and Ron Munn .
Tony Holland, chairman of the Standards Board for England, said it was important members who behaved inappropriately were held to account.
"The vast majority of the 100,000-plus members who serve local democracy do so because they care about their neighbours and their neighbourhood. A tiny minority lets everybody else down. It is in everyone's interest they are held to account,"he said.
The Standards Board is an independent organisation set up as a result of the Local Government Act 2000.
The Act sets out a code covering declarations of interest, hospitality and councillors using their positions to give unfair advantage or disadvantage. It also requires people are treated with respect and not to discriminate unlawfully.
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