TWO Bury councillors have been suspended from duty after being found guilty of breaking the council's code of conduct.

Conservatives Bob Bibby and Jim Taylor are the first to be disciplined in this way after failing to declare "personal and prejudicial" interests during a vital budget debate.

Members of Bury's standards committee handed an eight-week suspension to Coun Bibby, who represents Church ward, and a six-week sentence to North Manor representative Coun Taylor.

Their punishments start on September 1, when they will not be allowed to take part in council meetings, make use of councillors' facilities, or claim their allowances.

Both men maintained their innocence throughout, claiming that they did declare their interests during a debate last year which gave an extra £200,000 to private care homes. At the time, Mr Bibby was the owner of a private home in Moorfields in Tottington Road, Bury, and Mr Taylor was the care manager there.

They were reported to the national Standards Board for England by Labour councillors John Byrne and Mike Connolly, who sent the matter to Bury for determination.

Mr David Abrahams, principal legal adviser to the SBE, called council officers before Wednesday's panel who testified that they had not heard, and therefore not recorded, any declarations of interest.

But Tory councillors Yvonne Creswell and Sheila Magnall both said they had heard Coun Taylor say "I declare the same interest" while Coun Bibby was speaking about the homes controversy during the debate.

And Tory leader Roy Walker said he could give many examples when members had not declared an interest.

In their defence, Coun Bibby said it was common knowledge that they owned and ran a care home. Neither of them stood to gain financially from the council's decision, because the home was in the process of being sold.

"In all good faith, we did not do anything to jeopardise the good name of the council, and no personal gain was ever dreamt of," he said.

But the panel, comprising independent members Aidan Loyns and Anne Brown, along with Coun Sharon Briggs, found they had not formally declared their interests at the original debate, nor at two further meetings, thus breaching the council's code of conduct.

Both councillors were suspended for six weeks for not declaring their interests, and not withdrawing from the debate.

Coun Bibby was given an eight-week sentence, to run concurrently, for not declaring his membership of an action group which was campaigning for an increase in the fees paid to private care homes.

Both men may be given training in the code of conduct.

Mr Loyns, panel chairman, said the punishment was "reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances".

After the hearing, Coun Bibby said: "I'm not happy at all, it's absolutely ridiculous. It's just been a witch-hunt by the Labour party."

He said that neither man would appeal, because there was "no point".