Biddulph Town Council has amended its dress and appearance policy following a claim that parts of the policy's wording were "akin to victim blaming".

The discussion took place during a meeting of the council's Finance Strategy and Management Committee held on Tuesday evening (23 February).

One of the meeting's agenda items saw councillors approving amendments to several of the authority's policies, including its dress and appearance policy.

Cll Jill Salt said there were parts of the policy that she was concerned with, particularly a section that stated it was "unacceptable" to wear clothing "that may draw untoward attention".

She said: "There's a bit that I'd like councillors to think about that doesn't sit very comfortably with me. It says 'regardless of work location it is unacceptable to wear the following: any item of clothing that might draw untoward attention or cause offence, for example those that are excessively revealing, to short, too tight, or too low, or contain inappropriate or offensive words or pictures'.

"I do get the inappropriate or offensive words or pictures bit, but I think the too short, too tight and too low bit is very subjective.

"That sort of thing is generally only aimed at females, even though it doesn't specify that, and the phrase about drawing untoward attention is akin to - and this might sound a little bit extreme - victim blaming, and I really don't like those three terms whatsoever."

Cllr Nigel Yates shared Cllr Salt's concerns, saying: "I'd like to echo that and completely agree.

"The code of conduct says the town council should avoid gender specific requirements, and then goes on with a gender specific requirement of its own, so it should be a case of tidying that up."

The town council's chief officer, Sarah Haydon, said she had contacted a solicitor to reword the policy.

She said: "It isn't gender specific, and I think that what's acceptable is always subjective, but Cllr Salt gave me the opportunity to think about that, so I went back to our employment solicitor and asked if she had any thoughts on it.

"She wondered whether we could reword it to say that it was inappropriate to wear cut-off shorts, crop tops, see through material or clothing that exposes areas of the body normally covered at work."

Cllr Salt agreed that the rewording of the policy was appropriate, adding: "I think that is a fair compromise."

Councillors then voted to approve the amended version of the policy.