A councillor at the centre of bullying allegations has demanded he be allowed to defend himself at an appeal hearing.

Former deputy leader Cllr Daniel Anderson feels he has been denied the chance to clear his name after he was found to have bullied officers and breached the local authority’s code of conduct by Enfield Council’s monitoring officer in February this year.

Cllr Anderson denies the allegations and lodged an appeal against the ruling on March 13 – meaning the case could be referred to a conduct committee, which may decide to overturn the ruling or confirm the original decision.

Shortly afterwards, the coronavirus pandemic led to council meetings being cancelled for several weeks. Many have now resumed and are taking place online.

But five months later, Cllr Anderson is still waiting to have his case heard by a conduct committee.

Cllr Anderson said: “The last few months have been a nightmare. It is not good for my health and wellbeing and has left me in a state of paralysis.

“Here I am, four months on from my appeal and five months from the monitoring officer’s original decision. I am entitled to have my case progressed.”

In February, the council’s monitoring officer, Jeremy Chambers, ruled Cllr Anderson had breached two parts of the code of conduct and that on several occasions his behaviour amounted to bullying. It followed complaints about Cllr Anderson’s conduct from four council officers.

Cllr Anderson subsequently issued a statement “emphatically” denying the allegations and findings of the investigation. He also criticised the report into his conduct for apparently being “written in haste” and the verdict “based on hearsay from a handful of officers”.

The appeal letter from Cllr Anderson, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, sets out a case for his defence running to 36 pages.

But Cllr Anderson said he had not heard anything from the monitoring officer about meetings of the conduct committee since April 20. As a result, he is now in the process of complaining to the Local Government Ombudsman.

“I have escalated my appeal directly to the Ombudsman,” Cllr Anderson said. “I should not be having to go through this. There should be natural channels to me being able to make my voice heard.”

Enfield Council has been approached for comment.