Showing respect to others will no longer be enshrined in Cheshire West and Chester councillors’ code of conduct if Conservative council leader Mike Jones gets his way.

Some of his own Tory councillors and Labour group leader Samantha Dixon are making noises against the proposed move which has been suggested in the past but never implemented.

Last week, Cllr Jones addressed members of the authority’s audit and governance committee where he explained his desire to remove section 7 of the authority’s code of conduct headed ‘Respect for Others’ because it ‘may be difficult to measure and may inhibit vigorous political debate’.

In addition, Cllr Jones wants to make it harder to get a public petition debated at full council – at the moment it takes 1,500 names but in future 1% of the population would be required (3,310 names) with the council leader/chief executive to decide if it goes to the full council or the Tory executive.

Conservative councillors have told The Chronicle about consternation within their group about the controversial changes, especially given the timing just ahead of the May elections.

Labour group leader Cllr Dixon, who is most worried about removing the clause concerning having to show respect, said: “That’s a really serious issue. If you talk to most councillors and most members of the public, the reason they get so fed up with politicians and political life is because of the lack of respect for each other and also to members of the public.

“If they persist in putting it through I think it will be an own goal.”

The Labour leader recalled this was the second or third time Cllr Jones had tried to remove the clause under which a complaint was made against him after he called two constituents d***heads in 2012. An investigator later cleared Cllr Jones, saying he may have made the remarks in a personal capacity even though he was attending a parish meeting in his ward.

In another set of proposals, Cllr Jones wants to merge strategic planning and ordinary planning committees into one, with emphasis on the new chairman exercising their right to veto the ability of ward members to ‘call in’ controversial planning applications on their patch for a committee decision. In such cases, the applications would be decided by a planning officer instead.

A paper explains: “Reducing the number of meetings that members are required to attend will not only result in financial savings to the authority as set out in the agreed budget, but will ensure that members have more time to be ‘community champions’.”

Cllr Dixon commented: “Any move to take powers away from elected members would be strongly resisted by the Labour group.”

Council spokesman Ian Callister said proposals to merge the two planning committees, which will go before full council on February 26, had been prompted by an anticipated reduction in the number of speculative applications by developers now the Local Plan has been adopted. He claimed the planning chairman already had the power to overrule call-ins, although traditionally this hasn’t happened.

Cllr Jones was unavailable to discuss proposed changes to the code of conduct, but deputy council leader Cllr Eveleigh Moore Dutton, said in a statement: “Section 7 is subjective, impedes frank debate and may be abused. One person’s honesty can easily be construed as showing a lack of respect, especially in cases where the truth can hurt. Elected members should be fearless in speaking up for the people they represent and have the mental fortitude to say and hear things that need saying.

“Ultimately it is the electorate who will be our judges and they can use the ballot box to decide whether the way we speak up for them is acceptable.”