Durham County Council officers received 163 “standards” complaints since Reform took control of the authority in May, according to a Freedom of Information request.
By comparison, there were 20 formal complaints received by Durham between May and August 2024.
He has described complaints, including allegations of racism, as being politically motivated and wasting the time of police and council officers.
Reform leader Nigel Farage on the campaign trail in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, ahead of the local elections in May (Photo: PA)
Reform’s leader Andrew Husband denied any additional staff have been needed and said: “As with many issues the council deals with, we seek to manage demand through existing resources.”
Durham, the eighth largest authority in England serving more than 500,000 people in a traditional Labour heartland, was one of the party’s most eye-catching victories.
Promises of a Doge-style review – named after the Trump administration’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency – to identify major savings at Durham council have yet to materialise.
Durham faces a deficit of £71m over the next four years and Husband said he needs further funding to “more adequately reflect the demands and cost pressures we face”.
Reform’s Durham council leader Andrew Husband believes his party can make ‘waste and inefficiency’ savings (Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty)“If you think there’s any waste left that’s easily accessible… we’ve already done it.”
He added: “Savings will have to be made as long as the resources provided to local government don’t meet our cost pressures – which is currently the case in County Durham.
Disputes over net zero and Pride festival
Durham’s Reform leadership claims it has already saved money by scrapping net-zero policies and funding for the city’s Pride festival.
“They say they’ve saved £25m – they haven’t, they’ve stopped us getting £25m in investment on things like solar panels on our buildings,” Hopgood said.
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Husband said: “We have plenty to announce with regards to net zero. A sneak preview into one example will be the fact we will no longer be spending £4.2m upgrading our fleet to electric vehicles.”
The party has also vowed to cut back the number of staff at councils on salaries of more than £100,000.
“Some roles we just can’t recruit because the private sector pays so much more – planners, legal people – it’s really hard when we’re restricted to what we can pay,” Hopgood added.
Within a week of taking political control of the authority in May, councillor Andrew Kilburn was forced to resign because it emerged he had failed to declare that he already worked for the council.
And a third councillor, Paul Bean, is currently suspended over allegations he breached impartiality rules with comments he made on social media about asylum seekers.
Locals claim not to have seen councillor Rhys Burriss, left, while fellow councillor Paul Bean, right, was suspended over comments about asylum seekersBurriss, who previously stood as a Ukip candidate in Bishop Auckland, grew up on a council estate in the West Midlands before a career in law which saw him serve as a magistrate in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
“His name should be the Scarlet Pimpernel,” wrote one resident.
One local business owner, who asked not to be named, told The i Paper: “It’s impossible to get hold of him.”
‘No change whatsoever’
Durham’s Reform administration is due to set out a new “council plan” at a meeting of the full council in October.
Reform says it wants Durham council to demonstrate things like “good governance”, “value for money” and have a “workforce fit for the future”, for example.
Hopgood claims that residents in Durham “won’t see any change whatsoever” under Reform’s leadership so far.
What does Reform say?
Husband said it is “strange” to suggest that residents in Durham will not have noticed any difference with Reform in charge.
He also pointed to Reform’s efforts to secure an Article 4 direction which would mean properties cannot be turned into houses in multiple occupation (HMO) without securing planning permission.
Husband also claimed there have been “factual savings on net zero”, a “care emergency announced” and that “residents are loving seeing their communities in colour with our patriotic flags”.
Durham council deputy leader Darren Grimes, left, with Farage before the local elections in May. Grimes claims the complaints against him are politically motivated (Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)Last month, he wrote: “I’ve received yet another formal complaint for ‘racism’. My residents didn’t elect me to stay quiet — they elected me to speak up for them.”
In another, he said: “Apparently, saying a political party ‘deserves to die’ now requires police intervention, political opponents saw fit to report this post to the police. What’s next – arrest warrants for calling them useless?”
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