Ilkley parish councillors plan to meet with other bodies to discuss concerns over the cost of footing the bill for public complaints.

Councillors want talks with a parish and town council liaison group for the Bradford District, as well as Yorkshire Local Councils Association and MP Kris Hopkins, over the potential impact on local councils.

Members of the Council fear smaller councils could struggle to fund external probes resulting from complaints, and needed safeguards against “unreasonable and vexatious” complaints.

The issue was debated at the latest meeting of Ilkley Parish Council following a formal objection from a member of the public to the Council’s accounts, over grants made to organisations in Ilkley.

An external auditor appointed by the Audit Commission concluded it did not need to take further action and said the actions of the Council were “reasonable”, although it felt the Council did not appear to have met its own grants criteria in two cases.

However, the Council is expecting a large bill from the external audit process.

Councillor Stephen Butler stressed the Parish Council was not treating this complaint as vexatious, and said genuine complaints about a council should not be discouraged.

Chairman, Councillor Heathcliffe Bowen, said: “It’s where they are unreasonable and vexatious that councils do need to have these safeguards to protect themselves from that. I know there are councils up and down the land that do suffer from that, I know there are serial complainers.”