A COUNCILLOR has been acquitted of wrongdoing after the mayor of Upton complained about his ‘libellous’ personal statement.

Malvern Hills District Council decided at the end of August that Cllr Peter Webb had not brought Upton Town Council into disrepute with the written statement.

Mayor Tim Dance filed a complaint against the former mayor after the document was given to the town clerk and press.

In the statement Cllr Webb accused the mayor of dishonesty when he said that a letter called for his resignation.

Cllr Webb said: “Take me to court if he thinks he has case of libel or slander. Let him pay.

“Standards have studied the whole thing. There’s nothing to ever suggest that I have brought the council into disrepute.

“I have been totally exonerated. There is no case to answer. It’s a storm in the proverbial council tea cup.

“I had the letter and I did not triumphantly announce it. As far as I was aware that was case closed.”

Mr Webb says he produced paper work and emails as part of the investigation and was grilled for two hours by a solicitor.

Cllr Dance said: “In the statement he made he has written things in there that are libel and slander.

“He was acquitted from standards because what he did wasn’t bringing the council into disrepute.

“They have made their minds up and that’s it. I think they looked upon it as being personal to me.

“What he was really saying was I made up things I read out in council, which I didn’t. He is looking for trouble.”

Cllr Dance says he told the council lawyer that he would have been satisfied with an apology from Cllr Webb.

The personal statement said that the mayor had at best made a ‘misleading and damaging statement’ and at worst invented a ‘fictional delusion’.

Ian Marshall, monitoring officer for Malvern Hills District Council, said: “An investigation was carried out and it was found there was no breach of the code of conduct.”