Two bullying complaints at local authority to be investigated

Bruce Sinclair – Local democracy reporter

Two complaints of bullying at a local authority are to be investigated, councillors have heard.

At Pembrokeshire County Council’s Standards committee meeting of July 14, members received a report on local code of conduct complaints.

A report for the committee said: “A complaints/concerns log was established to capture all the issues raised by both officers and members on member behaviour and compliance with the Code of Conduct.”

It said the commit first considered the matter back in late 2022, and now had updated statistics available since then, including those from February 2025 to June 2025.

Complaints

Including repeat complaints, there were 42 complaints between May 2022 to April 2023, 23 complaints between May 2023 and April 2024, 30 complaints between May 2024 and April 2025, the report said.

“There has been one complaint since May 2025. This totals 96 reported complaints/concerns since the election in May 2022,” it added.

Of the 18 complaints made between February and June, members heard there had been 12 complaints of bullying at town and community council, with one at county level.

There had also been one complaint each at town/community and county for meeting behaviour, along with one complaint of interaction with the public at county level, and two declaration of interest complaints at county council level.

Interests

Members heard an Ombudsman decision not to investigate was taken for 15 of the 18 complaints, with investigations being launched for two complaints of bullying at a town and community level and one declaration of interests at a county level.

Speaking at the meeting, committee member Cllr David Edwards said: “clearly the area we have to address is harassment and bullying.”

He was told town/community council and county council training was due to be made available.

Members agreed to note the report.