A COUNCIL leader may be investigated over allegations that he broke a national code of conduct.

The Northern Echo has learned that a complaint has been made against Brian Stephens, leader of Sedgefield Borough Council. The nature of the allegation is unknown.

The Standards Board for England is also looking at allegations against a further six Sedgefield councillors, one in Darlington and one in Durham.

The maximum penalty for breaching the code of conduct, which all local authorities were obliged to sign up to this year, is to ban a member from office for up to five years.

A spokeswoman for the Standards Board said that the allegations were being examined before a decision is made on whether full investigations are warrant-ed.

She added: "I can confirm that we received a complaint about a Brian Stephens from Sedgefield Borough Council and at the moment it is on our referrals list. A decision on whether or not to investigate is pending."

A decision is expected in the next few days.

If an investigation is launched, the board can take a range of directions, from deciding there is no evidence up to referral to an adjudication panel, which has powers to ban or suspend members in the most serious cases.

Coun Stephens was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokesman for Sedgefield Borough Council said: "We have received no information regarding any allegations from the Standards Board of England and therefore cannot comment."

The Standards Board has received 1,000 complaints nationwide since May and has taken on more investigators to deal with the workload.

A system has been adopted where the most serious allegations are looked at first.