Allegations of bullying made against outspoken councillor Mike Taylor have been dismissed following an investigation.

On Monday, members of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s standards hearing panel cleared him of bullying council officers, but upheld charges of bringing the authority into disrepute.

As a result, the committee has recommended Cllr Taylor be issued with a letter of censure and stripped of his position on the authority’s area two planning committee, which covers the north east of the borough including Snodland and Aylesford.

This is a blow to Cllr Taylor, who has spoken passionately of his desire to retain the council’s three area system, set to be merged into one committee following a review.

A final decision will be taken by full council on November 3.

The dispute centres around allegations Cllr Taylor made in widely circulated emails and on his Borough Green News website about the planning department’s handling of residential development at the Isles Quarry, near Dark Hill.

Once used as a 1950s tip, the area was stripped of its green-belt status in 2003 and planning permission was granted for the site in 2013. Cllr Taylor has always maintained Borough Green’s parish plan was changed, which allowed development of the site. He also claimed there had not been a complete disclosure of information about contamination issues.

Cllr Taylor, also chairman of Borough Green Parish Council, referred himself for investigation in 2014 after a meeting with senior officials revealed there were serious concerns about his conduct.

The council brought in solicitor Jonathan Goolden to carry out an investigation into the accusations. In the conclusion of his 43-page report, Mr Goolden said Cllr Taylor’s comments should be considered bullying and there had been breaches of the code of conduct. The charge of bullying was summarily rejected by the committee.

Cllr Taylor said he remains unapologetic about his “robust” approaches to council officers.

He said “I believe the council has brought itself into disrepute.

“I accept that many of my recent emails and web comments are extremely robust, but they have been ignoring us for eight years. The longer they act deaf, the louder we have to shout, and try to provoke a reaction.”