THREE members of Darlington Borough Council have been cleared by the Standards Board after being accused of breaching election rules by using mobile phones at last year's mayoral referendum count.

Councillors Jenny Chapman, Stephen Harker and Nick Wallis, who are all members of the cabinet, are cleared of any wrongdoing in a report following an examination of the accusations against them. It states there are no grounds for further investigation as the councillors did not breach the code of conduct.

A counting agent had claimed that the councillors made mobile phone calls to relay confidential information to people outside the count, held on September 28, 2007.

The Standards Board report reads: "It was alleged that three cabinet members of the council, Jenny Chapman, Stephen Harker and Nick Wallis, improperly disclosed information given to them in confidence, brought their authority into disrepute and improperly used their positions as councillors."

The Standards Board for England ethical standards officer Jennifer Rogers found no evidence to warrant further investigation.

Her report says the information discussed by the councillors was not confidential and that use of mobile phones was forbidden only when deemed to be a disruption to proceedings.

All present at the count had been warned that the use of mobile phones was banned, but it is understood the reason was to minimise disruption.

Coun Stephen Harker said he was relieved, but not surprised at the outcome. "I was more puzzled about it than anything," he said.

"If somebody accuses you of something, you do have that nagging feeling. You don't like something like this hanging over you. It was always my understanding of the code of conduct that what we had done did in no way constitute a technical offence."

4:51pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

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