The leader of Dorset County Council, Cllr Spencer Flower has stood down.
Cllr Flower will stand trial next April after submitting not guilty pleas at Bournemouth Magistrates Court this morning.
A spokesperson for Dorset County Council said: "Cllr Spencer Flower has now stood down with immediate effect this afternoon.
"There will be a full council meeting to decide who the next leader will be tomorrow."
He chose not to appear at Bournemouth Magistrates' Court but instead authorised his legal representative Mark Proctor to submit three not guilty pleas.
A one-day trial was set for April 24, 2015 in front of a district judge.
Cllr Flower, of Aggis Farm, Verwood, faces three charges of failing to comply with the Localism Act. The first is that he failed to disclose an interest in Zebra Property Solutions Ltd to East Dorset District Council between July 1, 2012 and March 6, 2013, the second is that he failed to disclose an interest in Zebra Property Solutions Ltd to Dorset county Council between the same period and the third is that he failed to declare an interest in Synergy Housing prior to the meeting to discuss the East Dorset core strategy and by participating and voting in that meeting.
Cllr Flower is county councillor for Verwood and Three Legged Cross and is also a councillor on East Dorset District Council.
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