A police inquiry into allegations that the leader of Dorset County Council failed to properly declare an interest in planning policy has now been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Dorset Police, which has been handling an investigation into Cllr Spencer Flower, confirmed the case had now been handed over to the CPS.

They will decide whether there is enough evidence to press charges against Cllr Flower.

The complaint against him centres on whether he failed to properly declare an interest in a major planning policy which was passed by East Dorset District Council last year.

Cllr Flower was leader of the district council when members voted on the Core Strategy, which was to be submitted to the government.

A complaint lodged later said that Cllr Flower should have declared an interest as a director of Zebra Property Solutions Ltd, a commercial subsidiary of the housing association Synergy Housing Limited. Zebra Property Solutions had been set up to fund affordable housing.

Cllr Flower had declared an interest in Synergy. But Christchurch company REIDSteel – whose technical director Rollo Reid is a UKIP activist – commissioned a legal opinion which argued that he had a “personal and prejudicial” interest in its subsidiary.

Cllr Flower said Zebra Property Solutions had been ‘mothballed’ at the time the Core Strategy was considered in February 2013 and had not held a meeting for almost two years.

He has previously told the Echo that the allegations were politically motivated and had been examined at least three times before.

“I’m fed up with responding to the same things over and over again,” he said earlier this year.

He said the council’s discussion of the Core Strategy would have involved a broad debate about housing but did not address the ownership of any particular land.

He would have withdrawn from the debate if an issue relating to Synergy or Zebra had come up, he has said.

Cllr Flower led East Dorset District Council from 2008-13 (he remains on EDDC) and has been leader of Dorset County Council since May 2013.

His wife, Cllr Toni Coombs, was then appointed as the county council’s cabinet member for both education and communications. She is also an East Dorset councillor.

Cllr Coombs was recently criticised after misleading the Echo over the free school meals fiasco.

She claimed that Chartwells had only told the council in September about a fire in June affecting their kitchen at Ferndown and which contributed to chaos in the school meals delivery at the start of term.

When challenged a few days later she admitted Chartwells had told the council about the fire on June 17 and said she had “forgotten”.

Awaiting decision

A Dorset Police spokesperson said: “The case has now been handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service and we are awaiting their decision.”

A CPS spokesperson said: “A file is with the CPS and it is still being considered.”

A spokesperson for East Dorset District Council said they could not comment on the matter. Dorset County Council has previously said it is not a DCC matter.