A county councillor has been cleared after he became embroiled in a row with a national park authority over a letter in the D&S Times. 

Durham County Council investigated councillor John Shuttleworth’s conduct following comments he made on this newspaper’s letters page about the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA).

The cabinet member for rural communities submitted a letter to the Darlington and Stockton Times in May criticising the YDNPA for not supporting a planning application.

“This is just yet another restrictive organisation which is no more than a hindrance to rural prosperity, and what I would term as a quango,” Cllr Shuttleworth said. 

The row was sparked after the Weardale councillor’s response to an article about an application for a storage building to aid Kilnsey Show in the Yorkshire Dales. 

The letter read: “All agricultural shows are predominately run by local volunteers, who give their time freely for the benefit of local people. The local parish council supports the application, yet the National Park Authority doesn’t wish to support the show moving forward and becoming more sustainable.  

“Local people should be entitled to make their own decisions, and clearly if the storage building secures the future of Kilnsey Show, surely that cannot be a bad thing.”

David Butterworth, chief executive at the YDNPA, complained and said Cllr Shuttleworth’s comments could be perceived to represent the views of Durham County Council.

Mr Butterworth also objected to the use of the word “quango”, claiming it was “derogatory, abusive and a further breach of the Member Code of Conduct.”

The authority boss added that the letter is “factually inaccurate, the tone disrespectful, and that it constitutes a political attack on the organisation including its members and officers.”

However, the investigation found that no further action was required and Cllr Shuttleworth had been entitled to his opinion “even if others disagreed or were offended by this, or even if [Cllr Shuttleworth’s] opinion turned out to be inaccurate or mistaken,” the report added. 

And although Cllr Shuttleworth signed off his letter as a cabinet member, the local authority’s governance lawyer ruled it was not published by the county council. 

“The Governance Lawyer further accepts that there was no reference within the letter as to the Council’s views on the planning application and therefore no misrepresentation.”

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority did not wish to comment further.