A COUNCILLOR has accused the town hall of making a “dog’s dinner” of a disciplinary hearing against him.

A complaint was made that Coun Arif Waghat had “tried to bully and intimidate” a member of staff at Blackburn with Darwen council.

The standards committee meeting back in November should have been held in public, but it was wrongly advertised beforehand as private.

And then when the Lancashire Telegraph asked for details of the case under the Freedom of Information Act, the request was refused by the council’s legal team.

The standards committee, made up of councillors and chaired by an independent member, found Coun Waghat had not breached the code of conduct.

It is understood this was because he had been acting as an interpreter, not in his capacity as a councillor.

The Liberal Democrat, who represents Shear Brow, said: “It was a dog’s dinner, to put it politely.

“They advertised it as a private meeting, and so nobody turned up, then made it public.”

He added: “An officer took exception to my alleged behaviour – and I felt I was just doing my duty as a community representative.”

Council chief executive Graham Burgess said no breach had been found.

He added: "The meeting considered whether or not to meet in private but decided that it would be more appropriate to meet in public.”