YORK council leader Steve Galloway has accused a parish council of pursuing a "vindictive and dogmatic" campaign which was bringing it into disrepute.

He also suggested Osbaldwick Parish Council might have breached protocol by using taxpayers' money to fund a political attack on City of York councillor Jonathan Morley.

Coun Galloway's comments were the latest salvo in a bitter war of words which has blown up following Coun Morley's refusal to support a public inquiry into the controversial Derwenthorpe scheme, despite strong local support for such a hearing.

As the Evening Press reported on Saturday, parish councillors have passed a vote of no confidence in Coun Morley and have also written to Coun Galloway to deny spending taxpayers' money on an attack on Coun Morley in a parish newsletter.

They said the newsletter was going out anyway to residents to give them the latest information on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's proposals for a 540-home model village. They also strongly denied smearing Coun Morley.

But Coun Galloway said in a statement to the Evening Press: "The parish council's latest letter adds little to the debate about their decision to use tax payers' money to fund a political attack on the local City of York Councillor.

"There are regulations covering the publication of material at public expense, just as there are protocols requiring councillors (at both parish and city level) to declare any personal interests that they may have in matters to be discussed. Parishioners may want to be further reassured about both these matters.

"In my view, the leadership of the parish council is pursuing a vindictive and dogmatic campaign which is bringing their organisation into disrepute."

He said the Liberal Democrats had had an encouraging response to its recent Focus newsletter from residents living in Coun Morley's ward.

"We are analysing the results of a survey, included in the newsletter, into satisfaction levels with city council-provided services in the ward. Early results suggest a very high level of satisfaction with the vast majority of

services. It is a result that Jonathan Morley can rightly be proud of."

Parish council vice-chairman Malcolm Kettlestring said: "We put the newsletter out and we got about 13 responses made against Jonathan Morley, with comments that they'd tried to get him to do things for them and he hadn't responded.

"We feel we have been doing his job for the past four years, not just on the issue of Derwenthorpe, although that has brought things to a head. It's not a political thing at all. We are not political. We have just reacted to the letters and emails people have sent in."

Updated: 09:24 Monday, March 28, 2005