A PLAN to defer a town clerk's qualification has been branded a backward step.

Barnard Castle Town Council has decided to defer clerk Geoff Bosworth's work on the Certificate of Local Council Administration for 12 months.

The certificate is necessary if the council wishes to apply for Quality Council status.

But Councillor Newton Wood believes the council should apply for Quality Status as quickly as possible.

He said: "I think to defer it would be a rather retrograde step. A lot of small councils are trying to get through this as fast as they can, if we don't do this those small parishes will get there before us.

"There are many, many benefits of attaining that standard and if we put this off, it's putting on the back-burner something which gives us a lot more advantages and the ability to do a lot more."

Councillor Pam Grunwell, the acting chairman of the council's modernisation committee, said the deferral was to allow a full review of the council's services.

She said: "It would be more appropriate if this council concentrates on reviewing its services and enhancing and improving the delivery of those services in the current year and thereby using the time our clerk has to engage in that."

Councillor Alan Wilkinson said: "We should be showing that we're doing our job properly before the technicalities of proving that we're doing our job."