TWO parish councillors have been disqualified after making a stand against a new code of conduct.

Raymond Hundsdoerfer and Robert Hall, members of Thornton-in-Craven Parish Council, have refused to sign the document, along with a third member who has now moved away from the area.

The parish council adopted the code of conduct in May and all members had to sign it no later than July 15.

As a result of the trio's actions, the five-member parish council does not have a quorum - the minimum number of members that must be present to constitute a valid meeting - and has been unable to act.

As an emergency measure, Craven District Council has agreed to temporarily appoint ward representative John Binns and local resident Diana Lord to the parish council. A by-election has also been called and if this is contested, a poll will be held on September 12.

Mr Hundsdoerfer, who was chairman of the parish council for more than 10 years and whose wife Helen is clerk, said he could not sign a document that was ambiguous and required him to reveal personal and financial interests.

He told the Herald: "In signing the code of conduct I would have had to disclose a large amount of information about myself which, by implication, would include my wife. Say, for example, if I own property in the area, I don't want to give that kind of information out and it is unnecessary.

"The parish council has such a small influence and such a small budget and I think that giving that amount of personal information out is out of proportion to the power and effect we have.

"We do not have much scope for corruption in our small village, as we are known by everyone locally. I could understand it in a larger town and city or for the Government in general, but not here."

Mr Hundsdoerfer added: "We already had a good code of conduct that worked. This one is a lot more onerous than the other one. That one worked well for more than 100 years.

"Now we are going to have the situation where people will be brought in from Craven District Council to act in the interim and will not be as qualified as a resident would be. It is a move backwards for the village."

Mr Hundsdoerfer said he would have been happy to carry on as a parish councillor.

He added: "At the moment, few enough people volunteer to do this unpaid work. There's an ever- increasing level of bureaucracy with it and I think people will not come forward in the future."

Colin Iveson, Craven District Council's democratic services manager, said it was the National Association of Local Councils that had asked the Government to apply the new code of conduct.

Out of 37 parish councils in Craven, there had only been a problem at Thornton-in-Craven.

Mr Iveson said the new code meant councillors now had to declare personal and prejudicial interests as well as registering certain financial and other interests.

He added: "The temporary appointment of members is not something the council would ordinarily like to have to do, but in this case it was necessary to ensure the parish council kept running.

"Out of the two appointed, one is a ward representative and the other is a resident of the village who has actually taken the necessary steps for a by-election."

The two temporary members will now join the remaining councillors at Thornton-in-Craven, who are Steven Briggs, Sam Magee and clerk Helen Hundsdoerfer.