A PARISH councillor has been found to have breached the code of conduct in the latest of a series of internal disagreements at a troubled council.

David Joslin from Nazeing Parish Council, was ordered to undergo extra training and to apologise to fellow councillor Gloria Skipper after he approached her in an aggressive manner at the end of a heated meeting.

So many members in Nazeing have complained against each other the whole council has now been ordered to carry out retraining.

Mr Joslin, who said he would have apologised to Mrs Skipper anyway, branded the latest standards meeting “A complete waste of money and time”.

In the case heard against him, Mr Joslin was said to have become upset at a meeting of Nazeing Parish Council in September 2008, when Mrs Skipper suggested that he had blocked off a public footpath running through his property in Bumbles Green Farm, Nazeing.

He approached her after the meeting, and Mrs Skipper claimed he had threatened to set his rottweiler and German shepherd dogs on her if she ever tried to use his footpath.

Mr Joslin denied he had used those words but he admitted he had been aggressive and had raised his voice at Mrs Skipper adding: “I'm aware that sometimes I upset people. We all do.”

He added the description Mrs Skipper gave of him as “snarling and with eyes bulging” was a “Total exaggeration”.

Mr Joslin did admit failing to declare an interest in footpaths but claimed he only became aware the issue being discussed related to his property at the last minute.

He added his footpath had been closed for 30 years but he was now in negotiations with Essex County Council to re-open it.

The standards committee panel found he had breached the code in terms of failing to show respect and failing to declare an interest.

Speaking afterwards Mr Joslin said: “I was happy to apologise to her before. It's a complete waste of money and time.”

Mrs Skipper said: “I'm very, very disappointed. We are all doing training anyway, and rightly so. The apology means nothing to me because it means nothing to him.”

The investigation into Mr Joslin cost the council nearly £3,000 and is the latest of around half a dozen cases brought by members of Nazeing Parish Council against each other.

Because of that volume of cases, the Standards Board for England has ordered that all councillors in Nazeing carry out retraining and they will be sent on a series of courses in October this year.

Epping Forest District Council has estimated the costs of the course to itself will be between £4,000 and £6,000.