A SENIOR BCP councillor could be stripped of his portfolio post after being found to have breached the authority’s code of conduct.

Cllr Mark Anderson, Conservative member and portfolio holder for environment and place, is also being told to give a formal apology to the March full council meeting for his actions, one being described as politically motivated.

He did not appear before Tuesday evening’s standards committee where Conservative group leader Cllr Phil Broadhead told the meeting Cllr Anderson was on leave of absence with other councillors carrying out some of his duties. He said the portfolio holder had become unwell following the loss of both of his parents.

An independent investigation found Queen’s Park Cllr Anderson had breached several aspects of the councillor code of conduct – findings which were largely backed by the three-hour standards committee meeting, most of it held behind closed doors.

The nature of the “initiative” and the email correspondence which sparked the complaint have not been published but are alleged to have happened in mid-January.

Dorset Police had been called in by the council but decided not to proceed after an investigation.

The standards committee’s usual chair, Cllr David Kelsey and vice chair Cllr Ann Filer, took no part in the meeting after councillors were told they had been copied into emails from Cllr Anderson which were the main subject of the complaint against him.

Acting chair Cllr Vanessa Ricketts said several code breaches, prompted by a complaint from independent councillor Steve Bartlett, had been found justified by the committee.

These included showing other councillors and members of the public a lack of respect and not treating all councillors with courtesy; compromising, or taking actions which might compromise the impartiality of the council and those who work with it; bringing his role into disrespect and using his position improperly; together with politically motivated mis-use of council resources.

Said Cllr Ricketts: “The committee believes that Cllr Mark Anderson has breached the code of conduct on a number of serious points. He has acted in a politically motivated way to try and gain political advantage ahead of an election; he has abused his position a member of this council and therefore we would like to express our deep concern and dissatisfaction about his conduct.”

The committee recommended the council leader removes Cllr Anderson from his cabinet position and portfolio responsibilities and makes an in-person apology to the full council when it meets on March 21.

It has also asked the code of conduct refresher training be organised for all councillors and has called for a further investigation by the chief executive, Graham Farrant, into other ‘areas of concern’ arising from the exempt discussions.

At the start of the public session Cllr Vikki Slade said she had found it unacceptable that former council leader, Cllr Drew Mellor, had failed to apologise after complaints against him, despite being recommended to do so. She said he had appeared at two meetings since then where he should have apologised, but did not do so.

She claimed that the chair of one of those committees had also failed to act on a pledge to resolve the matter after she had complained about the lack of an apology.

“The way he treated us and the council is disgraceful,” said Cllr Slade, after hearing that a further report had yet to be drawn up.