£15k has been set aside to provide security for county councillors in North Yorkshire.
The move follows some North Yorkshire councillors reporting receiving death threats, abusive letters and emails, being held hostage and having their property vandalised.
North Yorkshire County Council's Assistant Chief Executive, Barry Kahn, explains what councillors will be able to use for money for.
A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive approved setting aside a £15,000 fund to which any of its 72 elected members will be able to apply, just weeks after Conservative MP Sir David Amess was killed at a constituency surgery.
Under the initiative councillors will be able to anonymously apply to the security fund, for which there would be no investigation as to whether there is any evidential support for the councillor’s concerns.
The meeting was told the fund would be a process to help allay councillor concerns as they perceive them to be.
Councillor Gareth Dadd says the money will be useful but thinks more funding may be needed in future.
Councillors also agreed to enable elected members with concerns to contact designated officers to provide information about potentially violent persons before undertaking a home visit.
However, concerns were raised over how that would work as councillors were often unaware of concerns about individuals before they arrived at a property.
Whitby cum Mulgrave division councillor and executive member David Chance said:
“I had a situation that revolved around my support for the refugee programme and I had a number of emails and telephone calls and I simply asked that my details be removed from the council website at that time. But I can see if there are contentious issues some members may feel threatened.”
Councillor Andrew Lee’s call for the council to take a pro-active approach and offer members who may feel their concerns are too trivial a range of low-cost security measures was also approved.
The safety initiative will also promote the reporting of incidents of abuse so the council can better understand the scale of the issue and what further actions can be taken to reduce risks for councillors.
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