A councillor has been cleared of misconduct by a committee chaired by the Bishop of Bradford for allegedly leaking official documents.

Councillor Bob Sowman, chairman of the Newlands Partnership board which spearheads a multi-million pound regeneration scheme, had been accused of discrediting a community forum by making public the contents of a letter.

The letter about a £17,000 award had been written by the Council's chief executive Ian Stewart.

But the forum says the contents of the letter should never have been divulged by Coun Sowman and that it has never received the grant referred to.

Coun Sowman, a former Lord Mayor, released the letter to members of the partnership last year.

But the forum complained it had been damaged and reported the incident to the Council's monitoring officer, Gerry Danby, for investigation. The press were excluded from the committee for a discussion by the Bishop, the Very Reverend David Smith, and members about the complaints against Coun Sowman.

As the Council's principal consultant solicitor Tony Kilner reported the findings of the committee in public, furious members of Ravenscliffe and Greengates Forum which submitted the complaints shouted they would put in a complaint. Association secretary Audrey Raistrick shouted as she left the room: "This is a travesty of justice. It won't stop there."

But Coun Sowman said: "It is as I expected. These were spurious allegations."

lThe committee ruled that two Tory councillors had acted in good faith when they failed to declare an interest over proposals to introduce waiting restrictions near their business.

Members decided councillors Glen Miller (Worth Valley) and Andrew Mallinson (Keigh-ley North) should have declared an interest but there was no need for a further investigation.

Howvere, the committee recommended that training sessions on declaring interests should be implemented for councillors.

An official complaint against the two members was submitted to the Council's monitoring officer Gerry Danby by leader of the Labour group, Councillor Ian Greenwood.

He said they should have declared an interest because the restrictions would have been close to the business which they own, AG Autopoint.

They took part in the discussions, but did not vote in the final decision on the scheme.

After the meeting Coun Miller said he had taken legal advice which showed he had done nothing wrong.