A WORCESTER parish councillor has been referred to the city council’s standards committee for allegedly bringing the reputation of a former colleague into disrepute.

Warndon councillor John Buckley will now have to wait 20 days to find out whether he will face action after a complaint was made against him by Dan Robb.

Mr Robb contacted Worcester City Council after he was shown an e-mail, not intended for his eyes, in which actions he took in the community during his time as a Warndon parish councillor were questioned by Coun Buckley.

Mr Robb has denied allegations of trespassing or carrying out unauthorised work and said he sent monthly reports to the parish council detailing everything he had done in the community.

Mr Robb, who has left Warndon Parish Council after a move to Ombersley Road, Worcester, said: “I thought I was doing good work up there and then to see something like this totally knocked me for six. It was a shock.”

The e-mail came to light after an on-going issue with an elderly Warndon resident's garden.

Worcester City Council did some work for her as a one-off about two years ago which was recorded by Mr Robb.

The woman then contacted Mr Robb in the last couple of months claiming it had been left in a mess. He then referred her to the city council as he was no longer a parish councillor.

A solution to the woman's complaint could not be found so in a bid to solve the matter, Warndon Parish Counil chairman Ray Morris sent an e-mail asking members for their advice. That was when Coun Buckley made comments which Mr Robb said lacked respect and amounted to bullying.

Coun Buckley confirmed he had been contacted by the city council’s head of governance and corporate support John Scarborough, who told him that the standards committee has started preliminary investigations.

He said: “It may well be I am out of order and have to be reprimanded. If that’s the case I will have to say to people in the future, don’t write to me because I won’t be willing to enter into correspondence with you on individual matters because it could be used by somebody to refer me to the standards board.”

When asked why he did not approach Mr Robb with any concerns he might have had about his work, Coun Buckley said: “Why didn’t he approach me about the e-mail? He could have picked up the phone, we could’ve had a cup of tea and we could have tried to resolve things.”

Coun Buckley said if he is found to have acted inappropriately he would “take it seriously”.