A REPORT which challenges York councillors to put partisan bickering behind them leaves questions unanswered, a senior councillor has claimed.

The report by a team from the Local Government Association, which has been published for the first time, criticises tweeting councillors, mistrustful politics, and even alleges bullying at City of York Council.

It tells all councillors to "draw a line" under past problems and use the end of Cllr James Alexander's council leadership - which it brands "polarising" - as a chance to look forward.

Cllr Nigel Ayre, who chairs the authority's Audit and Governance committee, said yesterday that the report had raised some very important issues.

However, he claimed the 'quick speed and scope' of the report had left questions unanswered.

"It is a shame that the authors did not speak to any members of staff outside of the senior management team, ordinary residents or the local media despite making some contentious statements," he said.

He said that of most concern was "the failure to address concerns", particularly the alleged bullying of staff, raised in recent staff surveys and the 2013 Peer Review.

The LGA team was called in last October after council documents prompted worries about leadership and after arguments between political groups had been labelled "partisan" and "personal".

The five-strong team - mainly councillors from other parts of the country - interviewed top bosses at CYC, the city's political leaders and some backbench councillors, and in December presented an update to the Audit and Governance Committee.

Now the final report has been made public ahead of another committee meeting on Wednesday, which will discuss its recommendations and decide whether to send it to a full council meeting for more debate, and whether to draw up an action plan to tackle the findings.

The report says: "We found less focus on council priorities and strategy to meet York’s significant budget challenge than we expected. This was across all Groups. What we observed and what we were told was the focus has been on personalities and ways of working. Members need to be much more engaged on policy."

They also mention worries about claims that councillors and officers bully other staff, allegations of bad behaviour targeting women, and "trolling"; as well as large numbers of Freedom of Information requests about governance and ethics issues, and a close relationship between "commentators" and some councillors which they said should be a cause for concern.

It also calls for a new media protocol setting out how councillors should use social media, fresh looks at the council's openness and transparency and how it deals with Freedom of Information requests, and a new working group on councillor protocols and governance changes.