ROWDE parish councillor Ann Stradling believes she will be declared innocent of any wrongdoing by the Standards Board of England.

A complaint has been sent to the Standards Board by Rowde School governors' chairman Mandy Housby about Mrs Stradling's conduct at a planning meeting of Rowde Parish Council.

Mrs Housby's complaint is that Mrs Stradling should have withdrawn from the meeting when parish councillors discussed three planning applications relating to the building of a new primary school in Rowde.

The applications also relate to building homes on the existing school site and on the proposed school site.

Mrs Housby believes Mrs Stradling, who lives in a rented property opposite the school in Marsh Lane, has an interest in the site.

But Mrs Stradling told the Gazette: "I have done nothing wrong and I have no pecuniary interest in the planning applications.

"I applied the "say and stay" policy from the Standards Board. This policy states that if the issue affects you more than other people in the area you must say you have a personal interest and you can stay at the meeting which I did.

"The policy also says you can vote although I didn't. There was no vote at the planning meeting. We were asked to give our comments."

Rowde Parish Council decided to object to the three planning applications because of fears about traffic congestion in Springfield Road and the suitability of the access off Devizes Road.

Kennet District Council will decide on the applications in due course.