I FOUND your report (July 30) on the standards committee hearing into the conduct of councillors Bibby and Taylor to be factual as far as it went but very limited in its explanation of the context of the complaint, made by Labour councillors Byrne and Connolly.

The headline said the councillors were "suspended for failing to own up". This may make it appear as if their then involvement in a well-respected private care home was kept secret, whereas in fact it was stated annually in the formal Declaration of Interests deposited with the chief executive and open to public scrutiny.

Moreover, their involvement was explicit in the official leaflet, "Know Your Local Councillor", and in their election leaflets. They were elected with the public knowing of this involvement; they could not be accused of keeping it secret.

There was a dispute about when, and if, the councillors declared an interest during a meeting following a Labour amendment, but "failure to own up" is a very unfair headline given their obvious transparency about their employment.

Your report referred to a sum of money being added to the total budget for the care home residents supported by the local authority at the February 2003 Budget meeting, and readers may think that councillors Bibby and Taylor put this forward for personal gain. In fact this was a Labour proposal and the two councillors did not seek to alter or influence it in any way. Indeed, as they almost always had private clients in their home -- not residents placed there by the council -- any effect would have been minimal.

The Code of Practice was meant to stop councillors taking bribes for planning applications and similar crimes, such as those seen in Doncaster, Rotherham and Hull but, in my opinion, it is being used by Labour here to "scapegoat" individuals. The punishment for such a technical breach was horrific and has made my own party determined to retaliate. I fear we must learn to play the same game as Labour!

Whatever the technical breach of the Code by councillors Bibby and Taylor, there is no suggestion of any impropriety or financial misdemeanour. The punishment is, in my opinion, out of all proportion to the offence.

This story was leaked to the press during the local elections campaign. The draft report was marked "private and confidential". I was refused an inquiry into this breach in security -- which is far more serious than the original offence -- and this too will be reported to the Standards Board for England.

COUNCILLOR ROY-E. WALKER,

Conservative leader, Bury MBC