A BELBROUGHTON parish councillor has been banned from public office for a year for refusing to reveal information about her work.

It's the first verdict of its type in Worcestershire.

Belbroughton Parish Council signed up to a new member's code of conduct last year.

Then it became compulsory for councillors to declare their land and property interests, the organisations they belong to, gifts over £25, where they work, and the name of their employer.

But Councillor Lynda Wood, a civil servant, refused to fill in the register because her employers advised her not to reveal her address or where she works.

The Ethical Standards Officer at the Adjudication Panel for England accepts Cllr Wood had strongly held objections to the requirement for members to register their interests, but added it was a serious matter to wilfully ignore legal obligations.

The code of conduct has been accused by some of discouraging grass-roots politics at a time when parish councillors are becoming increasingly hard to find.

Chairman of Belbroughton Parish Council, Tim Cherry, said: "I think it will discourage people from putting themselves forward for parish councils. Parish councillors get no reward and act out of the goodness of our hearts and now we're so over-regulated it makes it impossible to do our jobs.

"We are always short of candidates and now we have lost a very good parish councillor because the Government insists on this level of regulation."

Worcestershire County Association of Local Councils spokeswoman, Pat Edwards said: "Clearly this case does have implications for other parish councils.

"We need another test case to see what the standards board would accept needs to remain confidential.

"It would be sad if it deterred people from entering grass-roots politics; we need people from all walks of life."

Belbroughton Parish Council is not having an election tomorrow because the seats were uncontested.

Cllr Wood was contacted but did not wish to make a comment.