A FORMER Fylde planning chief has been cleared of any impropriety by a local government watchdog.

Cllr Bill Thompson brought forward his retirement from the chair of Fylde Council's planning committee after a complaint by opposition Independent councillors.

It related to letters handed out by Cllr Thompson, a member of the council for more than 30 years, to fellow members of the planning committee.

The letters were said to be from Cllr Thompson's son, an architect. They had been sent to the council's planning department for distribution to members, but were not sent out.

The Standards Board for England wrote to Cllr Thompson last week, informing him that the matters raised were not sufficiently important to warrant a full investigation by one of the board's ethical standards officers.

It said the councillor was not seeking to mislead other members or act in a devious manner.

"I never thought I had done anything wrong," said Cllr Thompson: "It was a politically motivated complaint. They were getting at me as they were getting at a previous Conservative councillor about a year ago."

Conservative councillor Michael Tomlinson, who lost his Newton-with-Treales seat at the May elections, was banned from the authority earlier this year.

Cllr Thompson spent 19 years as chairman of the planning committee in his first spell in the job and took over the position again in May when Conservatives replaced independents and ratepayers as the largest party.

He intended to serve for just one year until a new chairman could be found and decided to step down early after Cllr Harold Butler agreed to take on the position.

A spokesman for the Standards Board said: "We can confirm that there are no investigations under way into Cllr Bill Thompson."