THE future of a village parish council is hanging in the balance after its councillors quit over a new compulsory code of conduct.

All seven Salwarpe parish councillors resigned at a meeting last Friday due to the Government's new Parish Council's (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2001.

In March, the Evening News' sister paper, the Droitwich Advertiser, revealed the councillors had refused to sign the document, which came into force last month.

They said they disagreed with a number of the aspects of the code and claimed it was too intrusive. One of the main concerns was the declaration of interests.

At last week's meeting, they signed the code of conduct before quitting.

Wychavon District Council will now decide its fate and is looking for seven new people to take on councillors' roles.

It can run with just three councillors, but, if too few come forward, the district council will look at alternative options.

"The councillors signed the code of conduct because it was a compulsory document and they felt that they should respect their duty to do so," said Ian Marshall, the district council's monitoring officer.

Ex-chairman of the parish council Jon Mellor declined to comment.

Anyone interested in being on the parish council should contact Mr Marshall on 01386 565000.