COUNCILLORS were told at a meeting to stay "well behaved" if they wanted to keep off the front page of The Northern Echo.

Mike Airey, the chairman of Darlington Borough Council's standards committee, gave a presentation on the national Code of Conduct for members at a full council meeting on Thursday.

He said that the local committee had received no complaints about members since it was established three years ago.

However, there had been "one or two" made by members of the public about councillors to the Standards Board for England.

"The cases concerned were investigated and there was found to be no case to answer," he said.

"My aim is to keep it that way. How can we keep you and me off the front of The Northern Echo?

"I want you all to continue to be well behaved."

Mr Airey said that about 3,500 complaints were made each year nationally to the Standards Board for England, but only about 1,000 were deemed serious enough for them to be investigated.

He urged councillors to check the ten principles of the Code of Conduct on the authority's website at www.darlington.gov.uk

He added: "If you do get any complaints in, I can assure you that as the person in charge of the standards committee, all the complaints will be dealt with effectively and fairly."

The council's leader, John Williams, thanked Mr Airey for his work on the commit-tee.

"Mike does very valuable work on behalf of the local community," he said.