Northallerton mayor Jack Dobson has been accused of impropriety over the issue of expressions of interest for safety work at the cemetery.

Town councillor Josh Southwell threatened to report Coun Dobson and two others to a standards board over the process for work on possibly unsafe memorials.

At a bad-tempered special meeting of the town council, Coun Southwell claimed: "This is not the first time Jack Dobson has been involved in impropriety in dealing with contractors and tendering." The mayor, however, said his conscience was clear.

Coun John Pelter, chairman of Northallerton and Romanby joint burial committee and one of the trio named, said: "This is trial by red tape."

Trouble erupted as the town council met to set its precept for next year, a sum inflated by the burial committee's need to cover a cemetery extension scheme and memorial safety survey.

Coun Southwell had already offered to do the survey for free, as potentially dangerous headstones had to be checked. He questioned specifics, such as when expressions of interest were invited and what deadline was set.

Coun Dobson said tenders were invited on January 3, with a January 10 deadline.

Coun Southwell claimed the necessary notice had not been given and that there was no record of a burial committee resolution agreeing to the action. "You have breached the local code of conduct for councillors and I will have to report you to the Standards Board for England," he said.

"It is not the first time Jack Dobson has been involved in impropriety in dealings with contractors and tendering. I have to report this or I am just as guilty."

"Fine. I suggest you do that," said Coun Dobson.

"The process is null and void. It has not been done properly," said Coun Southwell. He said there had been impropriety involving Coun Dobson, John Pelter, who is also a Romanby parish councillor, and town councillor Rob Kennedy, also a member of the burial committee, which comprises members of both councils.

Coun Kennedy said: "I came on this council to try to make a difference to the town. If you are going to veto everything, we are just wasting our time."

Coun Southwell then proposed the burial committee figure of £27,720 and allocating it to the finance and general purposes committee as a contingency sum. This was agreed. The burial committee element of the precept is now up from £12,200 last year.

Coun Pelter said some tenders had been returned but no-one had been appointed to do the safety work.

"It was my action to invite expressions of interest and that will be ratified, or not, by the burial committee, " he said. "They will tell me if I have acted outside my authority, not Josh Southwell. I may not have strictly followed standing orders, but if so it was only to speed things up."

Coun Dobson said later: "I am happy that I have acted properly.

"Coun Southwell can go to the standards board because this is an issue of common sense and I am sure this will prevail. My track record in this town is to do everything for the benefit of the people and they are the ultimate judges, the electors.