The leadership of a local authority which has seen its elected members face violent threats and abuse has emphasised “there can be no financial limit on protecting democracy” as it launched an open-ended fund for security measures to protect councillors.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive approved setting aside a £15,000 fund to which any of its 72 elected members will be able to apply, just weeks after Conservative MP Sir David Amess was killed at a constituency surgery.

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The move also follows some North Yorkshire councillors reporting receiving death threats, abusive letters and emails, being held hostage and having their property vandalised.

Under the initiative councillors will be able to anonymously apply to the security fund, for which there would be no investigation as to whether there is any evidential support for the councillor’s concerns.

The meeting was told the fund would be a process to help allay councillor concerns as they perceive them to be.

The council’s deputy leader Councillor Gareth Dadd, whose partner is Darlington MP Peter Gibson, told the meeting no elected representative at whatever level should feel threatened or barred from seeking public office.

He said: “I also believe it’s the duty of any democratic organisation to protect and to promote democracy, and to that end I welcome a fund. And that fund will apply to all members of all parties or none. Party politics is not an issue whatsoever.”

Councillor Dadd said the fund would mean elected members who felt frightened walking down the street could be provided with low-cost measures such as panic alarms, adding: “More serious threats could be and have been made, so it might be home security.”

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He said while the amount of funding given to councillors needed to be proportional and pragmatic, the authority should not set an upper limit on the amount of money that could be spent protecting elected members.

Coun Dadd said: “Money should not be an obstacle to achieving the outcome we are seeking.

"We have pencilled in £15,000, but I very much hope the new unitary authority will not set a limit on this because there can be no financial limit on the defence of democracy.”

Councillors also agreed to enable elected members with concerns to contact designated officers to provide information about potentially violent person.

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