A SPECIAL council meeting will be held next month to “thoroughly review” the way in which issues relating to members’ conduct are handled in the future.

All four of Bournemouth council’s group leaders agreed a special audit and governance committee meeting needed to be held in the wake of Cllr Stephen MacLoughlin’s computer porn hearing.

The meeting is expected to consider whether chief executive Pam Donnellan and monitoring officer Joy Postings were right not to refer the matter to the Standards Committee but to deal with it privately.

Concerns over the council’s decision to commission a second opinion from a top QC and the delay in publishing the investigator’s report and background information could also be raised.

Cllr Peter Charon, leader of the council and of the Conservative Group, said: “The council’s reputation has suffered and our residents, staff and councillors have every right to know how decisions were made, by whom and why.

“The audit and governance committee will be asked to make recommendations that ensure the council has clear written protocols and procedures in place to deal with any potential member conduct so that, in future, people know what to do, who should do it, how and when.”

He stressed the committee would not scrutinise the decisions of the recent standards hearing but would review the processes the council has in place.

Independent Cllr Anne Rey said she believed the meeting would give residents, and councillors, the chance to ask questions of key officers.

“I’m looking forward to the scrutiny meeting to sort things once and for all,” she said. “The process needs to be questioned and lessons need to be learnt.”

And Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Claire Smith said: “This meeting will allow us to ask the questions that need answering.”

She added: “There are an awful lot of people in Bournemouth who are furious at the way this matter has been handled. From day one, this issue has been handled badly and it needs to be sorted out.”