A LEADING New Milton town and district councillor has spoken out after being totally cleared of failing to declare an interest in a planning application.

Nick and Lucy Breckon made the complaint to the Standards Board for England after a New Milton Town Council planning meeting which recommended New Forest District Council refuse their application for rooms in the roofspace of their bungalow in Vectis Road, Barton.

The Breckons, who were given planning consent by the district council, said Cllr Goff Beck, who also lives in Vectis Road, should have declared an interest and not commented on their application.

However, Alexander Ruck Keene an investigator appointed by the Standards Board monitoring officer, concluded there was "no failure by the councillor concerned to comply with the Code of Conduct".

On Friday, the district council standards committee ratified his decision.

Now Cllr Beck, who is a member of the district council cabinet, has told the Daily Echo he was pleased to have been "totally exonerated from the trivial complaints". lodged by Mr and Mrs Breckon and "never doubted the outcome of the investigation".

"However, it has been a stressful 10 weeks awaiting NFDC's standards committee to ratify his decision," he said.

"I find it very disappointing that a complaint of this nature that incorporated so many basic factual errors, which included the actual date the purported offence took place, was permitted to proceed to be investigated at the expense of the taxpayer.

"The Breckons' submission included many inaccuracies which were both identified and highlighted by the investigating barrister."

While upholding the rights of the public to scrutinise decisions, he said this was "a recommendation to the planning authority regarding a property which the complainants were well aware that I never had or indeed ever will have a personal or prejudicial interest".

He pointed out that criticism of this type could lead to people having second thoughts about entering local government.

"I note the final sentence of Mr Ruck Keene's report, I quote: The question of what precisely constitutes a personal interest in any particular case is a difficult one'. Which leaves me to table the question: Is this a matter for the Standards Board of England to address, or in the first instance the local monitoring officer assisted by NFDC's standards committee?"