City of Doncaster Council officials have been accused of blocking councillors from obtaining legal advice, despite commissioning advice for themselves, as an extraordinary meeting of the audit committee was cancelled.

The audit committee was due to meet on March 31, 2026, but the meeting was cancelled the evening before.

Following the cancellation, Reform UK Doncaster took to social media and suggested committee members had requested independent legal advice, but this had been refused.

Councillor Jason Charity, chair of the audit committee and Reform UK Doncaster deputy leader, confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that councillors on the committee asked for independent legal advice after senior officials had done so themselves.

placeholder image — Doncaster Civic Office

The extraordinary committee meeting was called after the committee expressed concerns over audit work done surrounding efforts to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

In a speech during a meeting of audit committee on January 29, 2026, Cllr Charity also made reference to King’s Counsel (KC) advice commissioned by the council in 2025.

He claimed the committee was told the KC advice criticised the chair of audit committee, but they were not provided with copies of the full KC’s report.

Speaking to the LDRS after the March 31 meeting was cancelled, Cllr Charity said: “I asked eight times for independent legal advice, not to cause difficulties, but to ensure this committee was acting lawfully in carrying out its statutory duties. That is a reasonable and responsible request from any committee chair. The Council refused every time.

“You have to ask yourself: why would a council object to its own Audit Committee getting independent legal advice to ensure [the committee] is acting within the law?”

Conservative Cllr Jane Cox, the deputy chair of audit committee, also criticised officers for not allowing the committee to receive legal advice.

“An audit committee that is denied independent legal advice, and whose agenda is shaped by the officers it exists to hold to account, cannot function as an independent scrutiny body,” she said.

Cllr Cox suggested council taxpayers deserve an audit committee “free to do its job”.

She told the LDRS: “They were going to allow us a solicitor in the meeting, but why can’t we have the same rights as they had?

“I do feel bullied. It’s the big boys picking on the little people. That’s how I feel.”

The City of Doncaster Council did not respond to questions surrounding the commissioning of legal advice for members of audit committee.

However, a council spokesperson said: “It can be confirmed that the extraordinary meeting of audit committee was cancelled at the request of the committee chair under the council’s procedural rules (CPR rule 30.4) which govern the management of meetings.”

In December 2025, the LDRS requested copies of “any reports commissioned or paid for by Doncaster Council in the last three years in relation to the position of chair of audit committee”.

In a response the council said it held “none” such documents.

CPR rule 30.4 of the council’s constitution allows a chair or deputy chair of a committee to cancel a meeting after consultation with political groups on the committee.

Five councillors sit on the committee including: Cllr Charity, Cllr David Carroll and Cllr Frank Jackson, all of Reform UK; Cllr Cox, of the Conservatives; and Cllr Gemma Cobby, for Labour.