By Carmelo Garcia

Herefordshire Council has appointed eight new independent persons who will consider misconduct complaints lodged against councillors, Sheila Archer, Jake Bharier, Bryn Caless, Malcolm Foorde, Gerald Hodson, Claire Jenkins, Stephen Willmot and Roger Yates, will join the current independent person Richard Stow.

The council must appoint at least one independent person to investigate allegations that elected members may have breached the code of conduct.

Councillors felt that having just one independent person did not provide sufficient cover to address potential conflicts of interest or enable support to be offered. The eight independent persons will serve four years in office.

See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a http://www.rossgazette.com/subscribe.cfm";>Digital Edition now.