CONTROVERSY is mounting over the appointment of Wyre Council chief executive Michael Brown to investigate allegations against ex-Blackpool council leader Ivan Taylor.

It has now emerged that both Ivan Taylor and Michael Brown have served as directors for Lawtec, the West Lancashire training and enterprise council.

And Conservative group leader Coun Peter Callow, himself a former benefits agency special investigator, said of the latest development: "Perception is everything in these matters and I don't think the public are going to wear this one -- it's just too cosy."

A statement from Lawtec's managing director Tony Bickerstaffe said: "It is true that Michael Brown and Ivan Taylor both sit on the Lawtec Board as do 13 other people, but knowing Michael Brown as I do I have absolutely no doubt that he would in the future as he does now, act properly in all things."

Mr Brown was chosen as investigator last month when the matter was brought to the Council's Standards Committee chaired by Blackpool Mayor Coun Granville Heap.

Coun Heap said: "When we decided to send this for investigation the chief executive Graham Essex-Crosby recommended Wyre Council boss Michael Brown to the committee for his legal experience and the committee agreed."

Current council leader George Bancroft refused to comment, but deputy leader Roy Fisher admitted that he was unaware of the connection but that his support for Coun Taylor remained unswerving.

Michael Brown said of his appointment: "I think I was chosen for this job because I have a reasonable reputation in the area and lawyers are useful because of their ability to evaluate information.

"I am a qualified solicitor, I held a practising certificate for 20 years and have 13 years experience as a chief executive and have recently done something similar to this.

"I don't view Lawtec as a personal connection and if I felt I had inside information I wouldn't do it."

Concerning the view that a party from further afield who has not been exposed to the background ought to be drafted in, Michael Brown added: "I don't accept these allegations. I don't believe what I read in the papers anyway."

But Coun Callow said: "We have reason to believe that the authorities knew about Ivan's daughter Lisa's fraudulent claims before February last year but the director of finance Julian Kearsley said that they didn't investigate because they were concentrating on high profile cases of fraud by landlords.

"This case, though, involved £30,000 and in money terms was one of the biggest fraud cases ever in the area."

Conservative councillors also claim that at the beginning of June 2000, council chief executive Graham Essex-Crosby and his assistant chief executive informed Coun Taylor that a Land Registry document had been obtained and compared to the register of interests, showing that Coun Taylor had failed to declare the ownership property of 60 Enfield Road.

On June 5 Ivan Taylor declared his ownership of the property and resigned as leader of the council, claiming that he wanted to spend more time with his family.