A Christchurch town councillor breached code of conduct by making "unacceptable, hurtful and misogynistic comments' in an email and on social media.

A Christchurch town councillor breached a code of conduct by making "unacceptable, hurtful and misogynistic comments” in an email and on social media.

BCP Council received a complaint on 30th April last year alleging the unnamed councillor had made the comments during an email exchange.

The complainant said that this was against the code of conduct councillors have to abide by which state they must “behave in such a way that a reasonable person would regard as respectful”.

They also said the councillor had not abided by a rule that councillors “are not to act in a way which a reasonable person would regard as bullying or intimidatory and shall not seek to improperly confer an advantage or disadvantage on any person”.

On 3rd May the same year the complainant claimed that the town councillor had again made "unacceptable comments" in an email and had also made similar remarks on social media.

Following the complaints, BCP Council appointed an independent investigator, Simon Goacher, head of local government at law firm Weightmans, to look into the complaint.

He interviewed the councillor and the complainant.

Mr Goacher upheld both complaints, finding the councillor had partly breached the code of conduct in relation to the first complaint.

He also found the councillor had breached the code in respect to the second complaint.

But he said both breaches were minor and that "an apology would be an appropriate remedy".

Mr Goacher's report will now be considered by BCP Council's standards committee at a meeting tonight and determine whether to uphold his decision.

If they do, the committee will have to decide what punishment to give to the Christchurch town councillor.