A NORTH-EAST councillor has been sacked from a standards watchdog committee following a damning Ombudsman's report.

Coun Thomas Crowley, who represents the Deneside Ward in Seaham, east Durham, has been removed from his position on Easington district's powerful audit overview committee for failing to apologise for the part he played in a controversial planning application.

In an unusual move, Ombudsman Patricia Thomas named Coun Crowley in her investigation of a planning wrangle involving the extensive alteration of a cottage owned by one of the authority's former executive directors, Bill Scorer.

In her critical report, Mrs Thomas ruled that Coun Crowley should have heeded the advice of the council's then legal officer, James Sheerin and declared a "non-pecuniary interest" and withdrawn from the committee considering the planning application for Snowdrop Cottage, in Castle Eden.

After a top-level ticking off, Coun Crowley was requested to attend a meeting of the authority at the end of last year, but due to "pressure of work'' was unable to be present and instead submitted a letter for the members' consideration.

But at an extraordinary district council meeting held on January 28, it was decided that Coun Crowley had failed to provide either a written or verbal apology. On Tuesday, the council revealed that it had now been decided to remove him from his position on the committee - the panel which scrutinises the authority's executive committee.

The Labour Party Group is now being asked to submit a new political nomination on to the committee.

Coun Crowley will, however, retain his seat on the authority and remains a member of the council's Northern Area Forum, the Seaham Regeneration Panel, and the full district council, even though he has failed to attend any of their meetings over the past six months.

He has, however, been present at one of the eight audit overview committee meetings during the same six-month period. In accordance with the Local Government Act, a councillor can be removed from office if he fails to attend any meetings within six months.

Coun Crowley could not be contacted for comment yesterday