WITH politics comes mud-slinging, name-calling and petty accusations – fact.

So the job of trying to maintain and promote councillors’ “standards” might appear a mission impossible. Cynics might even argue it’s a complete waste of time.

But Roy Wardle wouldn’t agree. As chairman of Bournemouth council’s standards committee, his task is to ensure the town’s representatives behave honourably and respectfully.

His ploy has been to change the very nature of the standards committee – less a “policeman on the prowl” and more focused on preventing complaints.

“I would rather help councillors avoid situations where they might be the subject of a complaint or, if they are, try and nip it in the bud and sort it out without going through the whole complaints procedure,” he said.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work – as the high-profile complaints against Cllrs Ben Grower and David Shaw prove.

Cllr Grower’s complaint came after he posed as an ordinary resident and praised himself on the Echo’s website and Cllr Shaw has been the subject of three complaints, including claims of forwarding on an allegedly racist email and not handing in money raised from the sale of Air Festival programmes. The money was later paid in.

Mr Wardle has spoken openly about why he lodged the formal complaint against Cllr Grower and said that Cllr Shaw’s complaints were currently under investigation.

But surely he must react with horror when such complaints are made?

“l’m going to surprise you now but I think complaints are a good thing.

“I’m a great believer that you can always learn from complaints. They are the most valuable source of free information there is.”

In any case, the high-profile cases have certainly generated publicity for the standards committee, something Mr Wardle is keen on.

In a bid to raise its profile, the committee has published its first annual report, made the register of members’ interests available online and trained every single councillor on the code of conduct.

He accepts many people will regard the standards committee with suspicion, seeing it as the council investigating itself.

He admits he too would be concerned if it weren’t for the fact that half the people on the committee are ordinary members of the public.

There are other safeguards too. Cases involving senior members of the council are referred to the Standards Board for England, as are more serious allegations.

Those not referred on are considered by an assessment sub-committee.

If the complaint appears to be a breach of the code, the sub-committee can order an investigation. Alternatively, it can decide no further action is needed or it can ask the councillor involved to undertake training or apologise.

But Bournemouth has relatively few complaints. Eleven have been received since May 2008 – only two of them from councillors.

That’s a surprisingly low figure considering the Punch and Judy style politics this country specialises in but Mr Wardle believes it’s proof that most politicians know when to draw the line.

“Politicians, locally and nationally, enjoy a good critical debate.

“There’s nothing wrong with that.

“It’s when it goes over the edge and you get unfair allegations made and abusive language; that’s when it starts to get into the area of a potential breach of the code.”