A STANDARDS committee will today decide whether to clear the former mayor of Lymington of bringing the planning process into disrepute.

Councillor Kevin Ault, pictured, was accused of breaching the code of conduct over a planning application for 12 homes in Waterford Lane.

He was alleged to have told a Lymington Town Council meeting in April that he had not met the architect, then in private admitted to objectors he had, and would also meet them.

It was also claimed that he failed to declare that he had met objectors at a two hour meeting, and the developer, Quantum Homes, at a New Forest District Council planning meeting in May.

After Mr Ault spoke in favour of the planning application, which was approved, one of the objectors, Robert Struzyna of Waterford Lane, made a complaint to the Standards Board for England.

It was referred back to the district council's monitoring officer who launched an investigation.

A report cleared Cllr Ault of breaching either councils' code.

Investigator Alexander Ruck Keene said Cllr Ault didn't realise he had met the architect when he made a statement to the town council. It was a mistake rather than a "deliberate attempt to deceive".

Mr Keene added he was satisfied that contact with the architect - handing him a business card at the end of an earlier district council planning meeting and speaking to him on the telephone - were limited and "unexceptional".

He found the contacts with both the architect and objectors were not "over and above" those normally expected during the course of a planning application and did not need to be disclosed under the codes. He also concluded that Mr Struzyna's complaints were not malicious.

Members of the district council's standards committee must now decide whether to accept the findings.

Cllr Ault quit as mayor in August and was replaced by his deputy Pauline Elsworth. He resigned after failing to get support for the way the council conducted its business.