Veteran Hythe county councillor Chris Capon has had his standards rap quashed.

Cllr Capon was reprimanded in February by Shepway's standards board over comments he made about Hythe town clerk Judith McCormick.

He said a KKC officer had found her "difficult to get on with" and that "many townspeople" said she was "downright rude to them".

The Shepway standards board found that by making these comments Cllr Capon had breached the council's code of conduct, disrespecting Mrs McCormick, compromising her impartiality as a council officer and bringing his office into disrepute.

But the Adjudication Panel for England has now overturned that decision on all counts, following an appeal by Cllr Capon.

For full details of the adjudication panel's findings, click here >>>

The panel decided that Cllr Capon had not been disrespectful as he had been reporting the comments of others, and that there was no evidence Mrs McCormick's ability to fulfil her functions had been affected.

The tribunal also threw out the charge that Cllr Capon had brought his office into disrepute, arguing that "it is important that members should be able to express in robust terms concerns that they have about any aspect of the running of the council".

~ More in next week's Kentish Express.