A BURNLEY councillor is facing a formal investigation over allegations he made threatening comments to housing association staff and broke council rules.

Michael Rushton will face a Burnley Council standards

committee disciplinary hearing on Friday following a complaint by the association.

But today the Labour member for Gannow denied all accusations and said he wanted the hearing to be conducted in

public. A council report says Coun Rushton faces six charges of breaching the authority's code of conduct by bringing his office as councillor into disrepute. All the claims relate to alleged incidents at Burnley and Padiham Community Housing (BPCH), which became Calico in summer 2004.

The probe could find that there was no evidence that Coun Rushton failed to comply with the code of conduct or that he did fail to adhere to the rules but should face no action.

It could also find he breached the rules and impose a punishment, which could include Coun Rushton being suspended for three months.

The accusations are:

oTwo counts of making threatening and intimidating comments to a member of staff of BPCH.

oAdvising a BPCH contractor that he should not expect to be working for the association much longer.

oMaking inappropriate comments to a member of staff of BPCH.

oRefusing to attend a meeting with the chief executive and director of finance and corporate services of BPCH to discuss concerns about his conduct.

oFailing to sign the code of conduct for BPCH - a housing association of which he was a council appointed non executive officer.

Coun Rushton said: "I fully refute all the charges and I wanted them to be made public.

"I will issue a full statement after the standards committee hearing."

Council leader Coun Stuart Caddy said he would be attending the meeting to act as a character witness for Coun Rushton.

He said: "The standards committee will sit and judge on the evidence put forward. I will be attending to speak on Coun Rushton's behalf."

Calico spokesman Alan Tyrell said Burnley Council nominated Coun Rushton to its board.

He added: "We can confirm he was a board member from June 2002 to May 2003 and we made a complaint in January 2003.

"It is up to the standards committee to judge as they see fit."

A Burnley Council spokesman said the date when the alleged offences took place could not be revealed because it would form part of the evidence at the hearing.

Coun Rushton was elected in 2002 and is chair of the local economy scrutiny committee. He also sits on the better services scrutiny committee, the local economy scrutiny committee, the substitute panel of the joint consultative committee and the substitute panel of the joint grading appeals panel.