AN "APPALLING" breach of confidentiality was condemned at a meeting of Keighley Town Council.

The matter was raised by Councillor Julie Adams yesterday evening. (March 21)

She said information was released to members of the public before councillors had the chance to discuss it themselves.

"This really saddens me," she said. "It refers to a committee which I'm chair of. We had some very irate phone calls from people because a councillor told two people what we were proposing to do in council before we'd even had a meeting about it. It was appalling.

"We as councillors should respect each other, respect the chairs of committees and not interfere in those committees which we're not even members of.

"It was bang out of order and I hope it never happens again."

Responding to Cllr Adams, Cllr Kaneez Akthar said the town council has its own complaints process for issues like this.

"It's not for us here to discuss or debate the matter without giving the relevant council member an opportunity to reply," she added.

"That's the protocol and it's the whole purpose of having a complaints committee.

"We need to allow members a right to respond if there has been a breach. That is due process."

Cllr Michael Westerman pointed out that the council's own rules state that any councillor found to have breached confidentiality rules can be removed from the committees they sit on.

Cllr Andrea Walker said: "In my 16 years on the council I've known only one councillor who broke confidentiality and he was removed from all committees."

However, she also noted that all members of the town council are up for re-election in May anyway.

Deputy mayor Cllr Peter Corkindale said: "As this is the last full town council meeting of the civic year and elections are coming up, talk of removing people from committees is moot.

"I think we should accept that something was done with good intentions and without malice. We've talked about it enough and my suggestion is that we should now lay it to rest."

Town mayor Cllr Fulzar Ahmed said he agreed with his deputy, noting: "We should draw a line under this and move on."

Locum town clerk Anne Wilson said: "There's going to be a training session after the elections and breaches of confidentiality and the code of conduct will be part of that."

Cllr Westerman pointed out that a new model code of conduct for councils, which could come into force as early as November this year, might possibly include "mandatory" training for councillors.