THE STANDARDS Board for England has confirmed that it will be investigating an allegation of misconduct made against Bridport Town Council leader Roger Draper by fellow councillor Charles Wild.

The probe centres on whether it was ethical for Coun Draper to chair an interview panel for a new town clerk when one of the candidates had recently given his daughter a temporary job with the council.

Coun Draper has always strenuously denied doing anything wrong V but some councillors feel he should have disclosed the matter at the time the interviews were carried out.

This week the Standards Board said it had met on January 8 and had decided that the misconduct allegation would be referred to one of its ethical standards officers for investigation.

There are four possible outcomes:

,,X There is no evidence that the member has broken any part of their local code of conduct

,,X No further action needs to be taken in relation to the matter

,,X The matter should be referred to the monitoring officer (usually the chief legal adviser of the members authority)

,,X The matter should be referred to the adjudication panel for England