Parish councillors have slammed the media hype over new proposals forcing them to declare gifts worth more than £25.

The Government's new Code of Conduct, which must be followed by parish councils from May 4 2002, states that anyone receiving a gift worth more than that amount must declare it.

The national media has suggested that this could include any birthday presents they receive worth £25 or more.

But Addingham Parish Council has dismissed the comments and believe that people considering standing for council could be deterred by them.

The chairman of Addingham Parish Council, Gordon Campbell, said: "We are very keen to attract the right quality of individuals who have the necessary management skills to become councillors and run the village in the future.

"Adverse publicity from the media with regard to the Code of Conduct and Quality Parishing may deter certain individuals from standing. They are especially blowing out of proportion the £25 disclosure."

"A £25 gift looked at from the outside of the parish could be interpreted as a bribe and we will not be accepting anything that could be considered as a bribe.

"To be on the safe side we should be declaring everything. This does not include personal gifts, such as birthday presents."

The Code of Conduct will prevent councillors from being accused of bribery as they will now have to declare anything given to them which could be construed as an invested interest - from a free lunch to a brown envelope full of cash.

The Corporate Governance Solicitor, Tony Kilner, and Deputy Monitoring Officer from Bradford Council has visited the various parish councils across the Bradford District to explain the implications of the Code of Conduct in-depth.

Failure of councillors to follow the new code could lead to expulsion from the parish council.

Members of Addingham Parish Council have voted unanimously not to accept any gifts.

Comments made in the Addingham Civic Society newsletter claiming that the parish councillors had been harangued by Mr Kilner were dismissed by Councillor Campbell as 'destructive'.

The article, written by the retiring civic society chairman John Beverland, said that the presentation on Quality status was a waste of time and sounded like the Boy Scout Law and Promise.

Councillor Campbell said: "I don't mind sarcasm as long as it is factual. The parish council recently arranged for a Government solicitor to talk to us about how we would follow the Code of Conduct.

"For a start he was our guest and I do take exception to this. He was not here to talk about Quality Conduct he was here to talk about the Code of Conduct which we all have to go through.

"By law it is a statutory requirement how we as a council are supposed to deal with it.

" I would like permission to write to the Civic Society about this. We are trying to forge greater links and this was very destructive."