THE Standards Board for England is considering nine complaints against councillors in three North-East authorities.

The board, which was set up to look into complaints that members of local authorities across the country were breaking commonly held codes of conduct, is investigating one case in Darlington and one in Durham.

Another seven allegations in Sedgefield are being looked at before a decision is made on whether full investigations will be carried out.

The board has refused to reveal details of the investigations.

A national code of conduct applying to all local authorities was set up in May and since then the Standards Board has received 1,000 complaints nationwide.

To deal with the flood of allegations, it has taken on more investigators and has adopted a system where the most serious allegations are looked at first and very trivial cases are no longer looked at in depth.

Tony Holland, chairman of the Standards Board, said: "Both members and the public appreciate clearly defined boundaries of what constitutes acceptable behaviour and need a resource to call upon if they think the boundaries have been crossed. The Standards Board is that resource."