• Introduction
• Part 1How do I make a complaint?
• Part 2What is a Standards Committee?
• Part 3What complaints does the Standards Committee deal with?
• Part 4How should I set out my complaint?
• Part 5What happens to my complaint – how is it processed and dealt with?
• Part 6What happens after my complaint has been looked at?
• Part 7Withdrawal of complaints
• Part 8Complainant confidentiality
• Part 9Conflicts of interests
• Part 10Retention of records
• Part 11Generally
• Appendix 1Councillor complaints process - public interest
• Appendix 2Assessment criteria

Part 7

Withdrawal of complaints

Any request to withdraw a complaint will normally be granted but in considering such a request from the complainant the monitoring officer will consider whether:

• the public interest in taking action on the complaint outweighs the complainant’s desire to withdraw it
• the complaint is such that action can or should be taken on it without the complainant’s participation
• there appears to be an identifiable underlying reason for the request to withdraw the complaint such as whether there is information to suggest that the complainant may have been pressurised into withdrawing the complaint