A NEW report suggests a Maldon district councillor has acted in breach of the council's code of conduct – the fifth in less than a month.

However, the report has been written by the council's deputy monitoring officer, Stuart Jennings - and now a council committee will need to decide whether its conclusions stand.

The report, written by the council's deputy monitoring officer, Stuart Jennings, finds that Independent Councillor Chrisy Morris showed disrespect to the chairman at a council meeting, telling him that he was "too old" and needed "to quit".

The report concludes that the remarks were both disrespectful and "offensive in terms of equality legislation".

The report also concludes that Cllr Morris "could reasonably be regarded as bringing the council into disrepute" by wearing a cap, taking and making mobile telephone calls during the meeting and sitting with his feet on the table.

The investigation into Cllr Morris' behaviour at the meeting on 13 February was carried out after a member of the public made a formal complaint.

Now Maldon District Council's Joint Standards Committee (JSC) will decide on whether or not Cllr Morris did act in breach of the council's code of conduct - and on any disciplinary action to take against Cllr Morris - at a meeting on 3 September.

A separate meeting of the JSC on the same day will decide on whether to discipline former council leader, Conservative Councillor Adrian Fluker, after an independent report published earlier this week found that he had bullied and deliberately humiliated a gay fellow councillor in a series of incidents.

Earlier this month, a separate independent report concluded that three Conservative councillors had brought the council into disrepute at a previous JSC meeting, where they decided that Cllr Fluker's behaviour did not warrant further action (the independent report into his behaviour was published at a later date). Following complaints by other councillors, the report into the three JSC members found that they had not acted with the political impartiality required.