A police inquiry into allegations that the leader of Dorset County Council failed to properly declare an interest in planning policy has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Dorset Police, which has been handling an investigation into Cllr Spencer Flower, confirmed the case had now been handed over to the CPS.

They will decide whether there is enough evidence to press charges against Cllr Flower.

The complaint against him centres on whether he properly declared an interest in a major planning policy passed by East Dorset District Council last year.

Cllr Flower was leader of the district council when members voted on the Core Strategy.

A complaint lodged later said that Cllr Flower should have declared an interest as a director of Zebra Property Solutions Ltd, a commercial subsidiary of the housing association Synergy Housing Limited. Zebra Property Solutions had been set up to fund affordable housing.

Cllr Flower had declared an interest in Synergy. But Christ-church company REIDSteel – whose technical director Rollo Reid is a UKIP activist – commissioned a legal opinion which argued that he had a “personal and prejudicial” in-terest in its subsidiary.

Cllr Flower said Zebra Property Solutions had been ‘mothballed’ at the time the Core Strategy was considered in February 2013 and had not held a meeting for almost two years.

Cllr Flower told the Daily Echo yesterday there was “nothing new” in the allegations.

“I’m not aware of any developments or progress in the case,” he added.

“I believe these claims against me to be politically motivated and there’s no case to answer.”

When asked whether he felt his integrity had been called into question, he said: “The whole business is trying to undermine my integrity. Why would they do it otherwise? There’s no mileage in it otherwise.”

He has previously said the council’s discussion of the Core Strategy would have involved a broad debate about housing but did not address the ownership of any particular land.

He would have withdrawn from the debate if an issue relating to Synergy or Zebra had come up, he has said.

Cllr Flower led East Dorset District Council from 2008-13 (he remains on EDDC) and has been leader of Dorset County Council since May 2013.

He then appointed his wife, Cllr Toni Coombs, as the county council’s cabinet member for both education and comm-unications. She is also an East Dorset councillor.

Cllr Coombs was recently criticised after misleading the Daily Echo over the free school meals fiasco.

She claimed that contractor Chartwells had only told the council in September about a fire in June affecting their kitchen at Ferndown and which contributed to chaos in the school meals delivery at the start of term.

When challenged a few days later she admitted Chartwells had told the council about the fire on June 17 and said she had “forgotten.”

Awaiting decision

A Dorset Police spokesman said: “The case has been handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service and we are awaiting their decision.”

A CPS spokesman said: “A file is with the CPS and it is still being considered.”

A spokesman for East Dorset District Council said it could not comment. Dorset County Council has previously said it is not a DCC matter.