Nick FoggFORMER mayor of Marlborough Nick Fogg has been accused of striking another councillor.

A formal complaint about the alleged incident at a planning committee meeting in the town hall on Monday last week has been sent to the Local Government Standards Board for England.

It is the latest complaint to the standards board about the actions of town councillors and their town clerk Graham Gittins.

Complaints by Coun Marian Hannaford about Mr Gittins and last year's mayor Coun Bill Cavill have been dismissed as being without foundation.

A complaint by Mr Gittins about Coun Hannaford, a Conservative, is being investigated.

It was during a row over the removal of Coun Hannaford as chairman of the planning committee last week that Coun Fogg is alleged to have thrown out his arm striking Coun Peggy Dow on her arm.

Coun Dow said she had lodged a complaint with the standards board, backed by statements from three council colleagues. She said: "I cannot say anything because I have made a complaint which is under investigation."

Coun Dow has also discussed the incident with the police but has not decided whether to make a formal complaint of assault.

Coun Fogg refuted entirely that he struck Coun Dow, even accidentally. He said: "The first I know about it was the next day."

He said Coun Dow made no mention of the alleged incident at the planning meeting and said he understood she had made a similar allegation previously about another town councillor.

Coun Fogg, a writer and former teacher, said: "It's a bloody nonsense and it is indicative of the lunacy controlling Marlborough Town Council at present."

Other councillors have been prepared to talk about the incident anonymously and said it appeared that Coun Fogg was unhappy that Coun Dow had not voted for Coun Hannaford to be re-elected as planning chairman. She had been elected as chairman the previous week for a second consecutive year but that vote was overturned on procedural grounds.

Coun Richard Allen had pointed out that the mayor, Coun Graham Francis, and deputy mayor, Coun Hilary Cripps, had taken part in the voting when they were ex-officio on the committee and were not able to vote. Coun Cripps has since pointed out that she did not vote but abstained.

Last week the planning committee agreed to hold a fresh election and there were two nominations, Coun Hannaford and Coun David Parker, who won with six-four majority.

Two weeks earlier some of Coun Parker's Conservative colleagues had voted against him in the election of the finance and general purposes committee chairman, which went to Coun Stewart Dobson, an Independent.

One member of the committee said after Coun Hannaford was replaced by Coun Parker as chairman, Coun Fogg appeared to be angry with the decision.

The councillor said: "He poked Coun Dow on the arm and shouted at her words to the effect of 'this is all your doing' because he thought she had seconded the proposal to have a new election for planning chairman. Then Coun Mel Curtis stood up and said in fact it was him who had seconded the proposal for a new vote.''