WATCHDOGS have thrown out demands for an investigation into Tory councillor Michelle Wiseman.

She was accused by two Labour adversaries of telling lies during the Viridor Laing controversy at Bradley Fold.

But the Standards Board for England (SBE) says it does not believe Coun Wiseman has broken the councillors' code of conduct.

The complaint was made by Radcliffe councillor Sharon Briggs, backed up by group leader Wayne Campbell. They said Coun Wiseman implied that Labour, before the council changed hands in May, had done a deal with Viridor to build a 24-hour composting plant near people's homes, charges they deny. The proposal has now been dumped.

Giving its verdict, the SBE said it does not generally consider the accuracy of information that politicians put into the public domain.

"It is recognised that councillors from opposing political parties will often use contentious local issues as a means through which to score political points against one another," says the board. "This is frequently the case at or around the time of local elections.

"As a fellow member, the complainant would have a variety of platforms on which to respond publicly to, and correct, Councillor Wiseman's allegedly inaccurate comments and put over her own side of the argument."

The board decided not to investigate further, and does not believe that a potential breach of the code happened, although it made no finding of fact.

Coun Wiseman said: "I have said at every opportunity that this was a politically-motivated attack on me by the Labour group, unhappy that the local Conservatives were working with residents on this important issue.

"How much has Labour's point-scoring cost the taxpayer-funded Standards Board? In future, I would ask the Labour councillors to remember that I will represent the people who have elected me at every opportunity, no matter how uncomfortable it makes life for them in the Town Hall."