PARISH councillors in Addingham have decided to put their civic duty above personal considerations to end a row over signing a new Code of Conduct.

Some members had threatened to resign over the Code issued by City Hall in Bradford. On the forms they had to declare financial and political interests.

The initiative was driven by central Government keen to stamp out possible conflicts of interest when councillors made decisions on issues such as planning. Where a personal, financial or other interest is a stake, councillors are forbidden to take part in committees that make the decisions.

But some Addingham councillors had suggested that the forms were not appropriate at their level of local representation because all final decisions on issues such as planning rested with City Hall, not the parish council.

Former parish council chairman Alan Jerome wanted to know whether the detailed questions on the forms had been put there by central government or added by Bradford Council. He told a meeting of the parish council to 'expect resignations' if the forms had been doctored by Bradford.

Coun Jerome said: "We do not know if this form is for all councillors - we are a parish council and the requirements asked for in these forms relate to Bradford councillors. I am not being browbeaten by Bradford. Do we know if this is what the Government requires? If not, then the council is going to see some resignations."

The deadline for signing the forms is May 6. Anyone who has not signed by then would have to leave office.

Coun Jerome earlier said that he had no objection to signing the Code of Conduct and declaration of interest form if it was required by the Government, but he strongly objected to signing if Bradford Council had added extra conditions which were not needed.

At their last meeting, the councillors signed the Code of Conduct to keep the body going, said parish council chairman Gordon Campbell.

"I was not prepared to chair the parish council into oblivion," he said. "It wasn't in our interests not to adopt the Code of Conduct."

He said that individual parish councillors considered that the good of the village would not be served if they resigned from the body that had represented residents since local government reorganisation in 1974.

When they received the forms originally, the parish council contacted similar bodies to discover what forms they had to sign.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: "The forms have been done by district councillors and our understanding in North Yorkshire is that district councillors have sent the same forms out to the parish councils."