A VETERAN councillor has blasted rules which he claims prevented him from voting at Monday's crucial incinerator meeting.

Wyre Forest district and Worcestershire county councillor John Wardle said he had been "pressurised" by County Hall lawyers not to sit in his role as a member of the county planning committee because of his previous "public opposition" to the burner.

Mr Wardle, who appointed Councillor Linda Townley as his substitute for the meeting, said: "It was made very clear to me they wanted me gagged through the series of letters and a confidential letter I received.

"Because I have supported opposition to the incinerator I was told this could make my vote open to legal challenge but I resent that as I have been on the committee for 28 years and can quite capably look at issues as planning matters aside from personal views."

Mr Wardle was county council chairman in 1998 when he discovered in the previous two years there had been 54 meetings between council officials and a company bidding for the county's waste management contract.

He admits to "blowing the whistle" about the meetings but said he had become a "marked man" as a result.

He added: "I have no quarrels with the advice given to me but do not agree with the laws governing County Hall.

"I feel I have been denied my democratic right to vote. The irony of all this is the laws state I would be able to vote on the issue should the decision go to an appeal."

Fellow district and county councillor Stephen Clee, who also sits on the county council's planning and regulatory committee, said: "Every councillor received this letter advising them to think about their previous statements on the issue and Mr Wardle's absence is down to him."

County council spokesman Kevin Galloway said no members of the planning committee had been pressurised into staying away from the meeting.