LAST week Liberal Democrat Councillors Lindsay Ferris and Clive Jones were reprimanded by a standards committee for leaking plans to build 15,000 homes in Grazeley over the next 20 years.

The opposition decided it was in the public interest for the development of the countryside village to be in the public domain.

The hearing judged the actions of the Councillors to be unjustified and they were punished for releasing what Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) considered to be confidential information.

Cllr Jones said: “Naturally we are very disappointed that the standards committee have reached this decision. We continue to believe that it was in the public interest that these secret plans were in the public domain.

“We strongly believe that what we did was in the public interest and that it was the correct thing to do. In our opinion this complaint should not have been upheld.”

The Panel heard sufficient evidence that Cllr Jones released confidential information on October 12, 2016, without raising his concerns about whether or not to publish.

WBC judged his actions to be a breach of conduct.

What do you think? Should Lindsay Ferris and Clive Jones have been punished for leaking the plans?