A MALDON district councillor has lodged an official complaint about himself, it emerged at the council's 'watchdog' committee yesterday (Tuesday, 27 October).

The extraordinary revelation came at Maldon District Council's (MDC's) Joint Standards Committee as the meeting moved to exclude press and public.

Chair of the meeting, Conservative Councillor Michael Helm, announced the "urgent item", saying: "A councillor has complained about himself and about another councillor. The two complaints are related."

Cllr Helm added that members of the committee would be aware of the complaint as the councillor concerned had copied members of the committee into it.

The bizarre turn of events comes after the agenda for the meeting, published last week, revealed that members of the committee were already set to hear complaints about a councillor in private.

This new matter appears to be in addition to that. The names of the councillors concerned have not been revealed.

During the public part of the meeting, when debating potential additions to the Code of Conduct concerning bullying and harassment, Independent Councillor Stephen Nunn remarked: "I am fed up with the volume and nature of these complaints that we're receiving and I hope that we can move to a more stable and harmonious time in the future."