Investigation launched after council meeting in Filey rearranged to suit MP Kevin Hollinrake

The probe by North Yorkshire County Council’s democratic services officers follows equalities and procedural complaints being lodged over the timing of the authority’s Thirsk and Malton constituency committee meeting on March 31 being moved back six hours to 4pm.

The rescheduled meeting will take place in Filey three hours before a fundraising event at the town’s golf club for the constituency group, a £27.50 supper club where Filey’s MP Kevin Hollinrake is set to be guest speaker.

Opposition members said while council meeting times are usually set in stone months in advance, the committee’s chair, Conservative councillor Nigel Knapton, had agreed to the change without consulting them, leaving some elected community representatives unable to attend due to work commitments.

Leader of the authority’s Independent group, Cllr Stuart Parsons said Cllr Knapton had forgotten to declare, when making the decision, the fact that he worked for Mr Hollinrake.

He said the move meant the “blatant use of council resources to support party political activity”.

Cllr Parsons said: “Any member of the public reading about this would assume everything has been organised to facilitate the Conservative Party.

“You would have thought the committee’s chair would have been more concerned about whether the committee’s members could participate than ensuring an MP could attend. It stinks to high heaven of the council using its resources to facilitate Conservative Party fundraising and members.”

Opposition members have claimed the change in meeting time will impact on council staff and effectively enable Tory councillors to claim mileage for attending a party fundraiser.

The authority’s Labour group leader, Cllr Steve Shaw Wright, said: “The Tories on the committee should think before they submit their expenses claim.”

The row comes just days before the constituency committees are set to be handed extra decision-making duties as part of a drive to increase local accountability and decision-making with the launch of a unitary authority.

Cllr Knapton said the meeting had initially been arranged for Filey to make it convenient for residents and councillors in that area and constituency committees were designed to further links between Westminster and local politicians.

He said it had been rearranged at Mr Hollinrake’s request and that while he worked for the MP one day a week he had no knowledge of the supper club event before opposition members raised concerns.

He said the committee’s first meeting in Filey on the day of the party fundraiser had been “a complete coincidence”.

The Easingwold member said: “I know what it’s like trying to find times for [Kevin] to attend everything. He was going to be over the wrong side of the constituency in the morning.

“If we want the MPs there at the constituency committees we have got to be a bit flexible. As far as I know only one member is going to the Filey Supper Club and as far as I’m aware he never claims mileage anyway. Someone has put two and two together and made seven.

“Hopefully we can all concentrate working together for the benefit of the residents and be less concerned about conspiracy theories.”