A FORMAL complaint has been made against the deputy leader of a council amid bullying claims.

Cllr Joe Cooney, 38, who was the leader of the Pendle Conservative Party for six years until he stepped down last week, has submitted a formal complaint against Cllr Tony Greaves, the deputy leader of Pendle Council following remarks he made during Pendle Council's executive meeting last night.

Cllr Greaves refereed to Cllr Cooney as the "fat controller" during a discussion about Secretary of State for Transport Christ Grayling's visit to Pendle in January to announce a feasibility study to reopen the historic Skipton to Colne railway line.

Although Cllr Cooney attended the executive meeting, he had left before the remark was made.

Commenting on the complaint submitted Cllr Cooney said: "When I stepped down as Leader of Pendle Conservatives I said the atmosphere in Pendle was toxic and here is another prime example.

"Cllr Greaves chose to personally insult me even though I wasn't in the room at the time and hadn't made any comment on the item the Executive were discussing.

"There absolutely can be no excuse or mitigation for this type of language to be used by one elected official about another.

"I have submitted a formal complaint to Pendle Borough Council and I'm urging them to finally tackle this serious issue before it causing any more damage.

"Cllr Greaves needs to realise that this type of language is simply unacceptable and has no place in modern political discourse. "

Pendle Council Monitoring Officer, Philip Mousdale will investigate the complaint before deciding if any further action is necessary.