VOTERS can now keep an eye on what their councillors are up to thanks to standards reports being made available online.

All standards issues - including sanctions against members - are now listed alongside a councillor’s contact details and attendance record on Wigan Council’s website.

The move comes after a series of standards scandals involving councillors such as Tyldesley councillor Robert Bleakley who was found to have run up a £2,400 phone bill.

Donna Hall, chief executive of Wigan Council, said: “We’re lucky to have some fantastic councillors who work hard for their communities and are committed to making the borough a better place.

“However, we’ve had a number of recent standard issues that have shocked the public. There are some councillors who persistently abuse their position and we’ve had to take action against them.

“Now any standards issue involving a councillor will be clearly listed on our website next to the councillor’s online entry. This will allow voters to check their councillor’s behaviour.”

Standards reports have previously published in a different section of the website but following the controversy surrounding some councillors the council has decided to make standards information more accessiblein the hope this will help the public hold their councillors to account.

Clr Bleakley was found by a standards committee to have viewed pornography on his council laptop and used his council-issued mobile phone to call sex chat lines and send sexist text messages.

Donna Hall said: “Our powers to act against councillors who have behaved unacceptably are extremely limited following a change in the law in 2012.

"So we want to cast light onto the bad behaviour of a small number of our councillors in the hope that it will persuade them to behave and the public will apply pressure on them. Voters have the right to know what their elected representative are up to.”

The public can view standards issues by visiting democracy.wigan.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1.