A CALL has been made for the chair of Hurn Parish Council to resign by councillors from a neighbouring civic authority.

The clerk of St Leonard's and St Ives Parish Council has written to her counterpart in Hurn asking Cllr Margaret Phipps to step down.

The letter follows a ruling from the Standards Board for England that Mrs Phipps had breached their Code of Conduct for councillors.

The Standards Board said that Mrs Phipps failed to declare a personal and prejudicial interest at a meeting of Hurn councillors last year.

The members discussed a letter from a landowners association concerning the possibilities for housing development at the Grange estate near St Leonard's hospital.

Mrs Phipps did not declare her joint ownership of 4.5 acres of land at the Grange and leave the meeting, it was alleged.

No action was taken after the investigating officer ruled that Hurn councillors had decided only to discuss the letter with a neighbouring authority.

Expressions of regret from Mrs Phipps were also considered by the Standards Board in its decision not to censure the Hurn civic leader.

But a meeting of the full council at St Leonard's and St Ives heard that no approach had yet been received from their colleagues at Hurn concerning the landowners' letter.

Councillors at the meeting also questioned the sincerity of Mrs Phipps' apology to the Standards Board, following her statement to the Daily Echo that their investigation had been "a complete waste of public money".

Congestion on the A31, and international mandates protecting surrounding heathland, made the Grange unsuitable for development, councillors said.

Mrs Phipps told the Daily Echo she had no comment to make on the matter.