Complaints of bullying and shouting have been made against councillors in South Gloucestershire over the past year, according to a new report.

The report, which does not name any individual councillors or councils, says a “pattern is emerging” in a small number of town and parish councils.

South Gloucestershire Council received seven complaints about councillor behaviour in the year to March, the report by the council’s monitoring officer says.

Five of them involved parish councils, including one allegation of bullying by a parish councillor and three where an investigation is underway.

Two complaints related to three councillors at a single parish council.

One town councillor was found to have breached expected standards of behaviour after someone complained the councillor shouted at a member of staff.

The councillor was told to apologise for “failing to show respect”, according to the report.

A district councillor made a “full apology” to residents for a comment he made at a committee meeting, but he was not found to have breached the Member Code of Conduct.

The councillor said his comment, which was reported in the press, was “taken out of context” and he had not intended to cause any offence.

Council solicitor Tonya Meers, who presented the report to members of South Gloucestershire Council’s regulatory committee on July 15, said: “Most of the complaints have either been down to either some miscommunication.

“And we have got a situation in one parish council where we do have a number of complaints about various councillors and that’s being looked at, at the moment.”

The parish councillor accused of bullying was not found to have breached the code. The complaint came from an individual involved in a dispute with the council, according to the report.

The four other complaints about parish councils involved two allegations of ‘mis-use of position’ and two allegations, one involving two councillors, of ‘failing to treat others with respect’.

No breach of the code was found in relation to one of the allegations of ‘mis-use of position’, but the councillor apologised and confirmed they will “clarify the capacity in which they are acting when making comments” in future, the report said.

Investigations are underway into the other three complaints involving parish councils.

A spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council said it was unable to provide any more details about any of the complaints in the report because the information is “kept confidential/anonymised unless a panel is formally appointed to deal with the matter”.

In his report, monitoring officer John McCormack said: “When comparing the complaints made in recent years, a pattern is emerging amongst a small number of parish/town councils. 

“A significant number of the overall number of complaints relate to two parish/town councils. 

“The majority of complaints do not result in a finding that the councillor has breached the Code of Conduct.”

The district council has provided parish and town councils with training relating to the code of conduct in the past year, the report states.

The Localism Act 2011 requires local authorities to adopt a code of conduct to promote and maintain high standards of behaviour by members.  

Councillors are expected to follow the code adopted by their local authority. Most parish and town councils in South Gloucestershire have adopted the district council’s Member Code of Conduct.

The code expects members to show selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership when acting in their capacity as a councillor.

They are expected to “always” treat people with respect.