Council probe was ‘a waste of money’

Despite upholding the complaint that Mrs Phipps had failed to declare a personal and prejudicial interest at a parish council meeting last summer, the Standards Board for England decided to take no action against her.

The unnamed complainant alleged that Mrs Phipps should have declared her interest and left the room when a letter was read from a local landowners' association outlining proposals for development at the Grange Estate, asking the council to hold discussions with neighbouring St Leonard's and St Ives parish council.

Following an investigation, the ethical standards officer ruled that Mrs Phipps had a personal and prejudicial interest because her brother was a member of the landowners' association and as joint owner of 4.5 acres of land within the proposed development area she stood to gain financially from any re-designation of the land for residential development.

But in his report the officer said no action needed to be taken against Mrs Phipps since the meeting had considered only whether to meet informally with another parish council.

Mrs Phipps told the investigation she was not personally involved in the land she jointly owned with her brother and was not party to the landowners' association letter.

She accepted it would have been sensible to declare an interest at the meeting and apologised for the oversight but explained the letter was not an agenda item and parish councillors, while agreeing to liase with the neighbouring council, had not discussed the merits of development.

Mrs Phipps told the Daily Echo the complaint was at first rejected by the Standard Board which was obliged to pursue an investigation when the complainant objected to the decision.

"It has now gone through the due process and come to the same conclusion. As far as I am concerned it has been a complete waste of public money," she said.