BOURNEMOUTH Council is entering the New Year with both its leader and deputy leader under investigation by a standards watchdog, the Echo can reveal.

Deputy leader John Beesley is accused of allowing a potential conflict of interest to arise over links to a planning consultant.

Leader Stephen MacLoughlin is already under scrutiny after the Echo revealed pornography had been found on his council laptop.

Their fates will now be decided by the standards board, which is made up of four councillors and four members of the public.

They are investigating claims that Cllr Beesley should have excused himself as chairman of the planning board when he heard presentations from a “very close friend”, the planning consultant Anthony Ramdsen.

The pair had a former business connection through the firm Williamson and Treadgold Ltd, and Cllr Beesley is the godfather to one of Mr Ramsden’s children.

Cllr Beesley is accused of only saying the men were friends, and then still chairing meetings.

The complaint, made by Cllr Roger West, says: “[Cllr Beesley] ought to have disclosed the full extent of his interest and withdrawn from the room where the business was being considered, but failed to so, contrary to paragraph 9 of [the code of conduct].”

Cllr Beesley said the complaint was politically motivated and that he was “perfectly confident” he made the correct declarations at the appropriate times.

He said when the matter was first raised in 2007 he accepted officers’ advice that he should declare he was a friend of Mr Ramsden’s and that the interest was not prejudicial to his role.

He acknowledged that he had not declared his past involvement as a director and a secretary for Williamson and Treadgold in 2003.

Cllr Beesley said: “I helped [Tony Ramsden] start up a company. I have done the same for other people in the past. “It was a very long time in the past and there was no reason to make the declaration.”

He said he welcomed scrutiny of applications named by Cllr West and denied the public would regard the situation as unhealthy.

The planning board regularly hears presentations from Mr Ramsden, or a representative of his firm, Ringwood-based firm Planning Solutions.

Mr Ramsden said: “John Beesley acted in an advisory role as company secretary. We weren’t business partners. It was only for a couple of months.

“I probably see him socially three or four times a year. But I also see a lot of other councillors socially three or four times a year.

“There are probably councillors in other parties that I am more friendly with.”

He said he could name “half a dozen” of his applications that had been recommended for approval but were turned down by the planning board.