Councillors' Code of Conduct

A copy of the Code of Conduct can be found here as part of our Constitution.

• Appendix 1 - Making a complaint
• Appendix 2 - Information for Members in receipt of a complaint
• Appendix 3 - Process upon receipt of a complaint

If you want to complain about the conduct of a Member of Mid Sussex District Council or a Member of one of our Town or Parish Councils, please complete the E-Form below which will be sent directly to the Monitoring Officer.

Make a complaint online

Complaints procedure

The complaints procedure for Code of Conduct Complaints against District Councillors and Town/Parish Councillors in Mid Sussex

This is for Code of Conduct complaints only and not for complaints about decisions of Members at District or Town/Parish level. There is no power for a Standards Sub-Committee to disqualify a Member. The power is one of censure.

The responsibility for considering complaints that a Member may have breached the Code of Conduct in Mid Sussex lies with the Standards Committee of Mid Sussex District Council. This is currently comprised of 10 members, being 6 District Councillors and 4 Town/Parish Councillors. The Committee are assisted by three independent persons, Mr Paul Cummins, Ms Wendy Swinton-Eagle and Dr David Horne.

How to make a complaint

If you want to complain about the conduct of a Member of Mid Sussex District Council or a Member of one of our Town or Parish Councils, please complete the Members Complaint form which will be sent directly to the Monitoring Officer.

Alternatively, you may submit your complaint to:

Kevin Toogood
Monitoring Officer
Mid Sussex District Council
Oaklands
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 1SS

The assessment sub-committee can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a member amounting to a potential breach of the Members' Code of Conduct. It will not deal with complaints about things that are not covered by the members' Code of Conduct. If you make a complaint to the assessment sub-committee it must be about why you think a member has not followed the Code of Conduct.

Next steps

If, after submitting a complaint, you wish to discuss the situation with an independent person, you should contact:

• Wendy Swinton-Eagle at swintoneaglewendy@yahoo.co.uk
  • Surname of the District Councillor beginning from A to D or
  • a Parish/Town Council beginning A to D.
• Paul Cummins at paul_acummins@yahoo.co.uk
  • As above, starting from E to G
• Dr David Horne at Drdahorne@bath.edu
  • As above, starting from H to Z

For a Member or Parish/Town Council facing a complaint against them, should you wish to discuss the situation with an independent person please contact:

• Dr David Horne
  • Surname of the District Councillor beginning from A to D or
  • a Parish/Town Council beginning A to D.
• Wendy Swinton-Eagle
  
  • As above, starting from E to G
• Paul Cummins
  
  • As above, starting from H to Z

If you would like to speak to them by telephone please contact Kevin Toogood as above.

Any other complaints against the Council should be sent to the Complaints Officer, details are available on our Complaints page.