AN official at the centre of allegations that led to an investigation into the conduct of a senior North-East councillor has spoken for the first time.

Dennis Hall, monitoring officer for Sedgefield Borough Council, in County Durham, was the subject of comments alleged to have been made by Councillor Bill Waters.

The case arose during a two-year investigation into the conduct of the council's cabinet in August 2002.

The cabinet approved, without query, a report on staffing presented to members by chief executive Norman Vaulks.

The decision was later rescinded following legal advice from Mr Hall, who said the cabinet, which included Coun Waters, did not have the power or sufficient information to make it.

The Standards Board found there wa a breach of the code of conduct, but took no action, taking into account the fact the decision was cancelled and procedures introduced. The complaint against Coun Waters was that he made comments to senior officers about Mr Hall's motives for not coming forward with his advice to cabinet sooner.

Coun Waters strenuously denied the claim. The Adjudication Panel for England last week found he had not made the statements attributed to him and cleared him at a tribunal.

The alleged statements about Mr Hall were entirely false and never substantiated, a fact accepted by Coun Waters, by the Adjudication Panel and by the Standards Board throughout.

Mr Hall said: "Whilst the panel found in favour of Coun Waters, it would be wrong to assume that the board do not take matters of this kind seriously.

"This is the Standards Board taking a very serious view of alleged misconduct of this kind, and the important point is that councillors must be aware of their responsibilities in discharging duties."