A controversial councillor could face disciplinary action after claiming golliwogs are not racist.

Brighton and Hove city councillor Dawn Barnett is to be hauled in front of the local authority’s standards board after a complaint from a member of the public.

It is alleged that the Conservative politician brought her office into disrepute when she made the statement.

A hearing is expected to take place later this month when a cross-party panel of councillors will decide if she has breached the council’s code of conduct.

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But even if she is found guilty, the local authority does not have any power to disqualify Coun Barnett as a member or withdraw her allowances.

Coun Barnett, who represents Hangleton and Knoll, was approached for a comment on the issue yesterday but declined.

The complaint relates to views she expressed to The Argus in August after place mats featuring golliwogs were found on sale in Bert’s Homestore in Brighton. At the time Coun Barnett argued that the dolls were not racist and branded the complaints against the store “political correctness gone too far”.

When asked why the shop should continue to sell the mats, she said: “They’re nostalgic, not racist. When I was young I remember saving up for a badge showing a golliwog playing a banjo.

“My children had golliwogs and they preferred them to teddy bears. It’s because they’ve got happy, smiling little faces.”

In 2011 Coun Barnett was found guilty of bringing the office into disrepute after handing out maps to travellers to try to get them to leave her ward.

She was cleared of two further allegations of failing to treat others with respect and breaching equality laws.

A further complaint was made earlier this year that Coun Barnett “disregarded procedure”

when visiting a workplace without asking permission from a manager to chase up concerns about the care of an elderly resident. But it has yet to be taken forward by the local authority.