A COUNCILLOR has been accused of deliberately misleading the public and insulting staff in a bid to drum up support.

Jo Lovelock, leader of Reading Borough Council, hit back at opposition member Rob White after he accused officers of producing a bungled report.

His allegation came after the council turned down an offer from Aspire, a community interest company, to buy the Central Club building.

Fears have been raised that whoever buys the building will demolish the neighbouring mural, but RBC insists there is no threat to the iconic artwork.

And Cllr White, who described Cllr Lovelock's comments as a "merciless attack", said he will continue to back Aspire's bid at a meeting on Tuesday night.

He also suggested there were 'inaccuracies' in the council's summary of the bid, which it has been ordered not to make public.

But Cllr Lovelock retorted: "The council completely rejects any suggestion there were inaccuracies in the summary of Aspire's bid.

"Councillor White is deliberately misleading the public and insulting the integrity of the officers who wrote the report.

"White the council is still unable to make the bid public, Cllr White as a member of the policy committee is welcome to read the whole bid if he has not done so already.

"If he had done, surely he would have raised the alleged inaccuracies when the item was considered in closed session - he did not.

"I can only hope that Cllr White recognises the potential damage to wider community relations that such deliberately misleading statements can have.

"Cllr White has a long history of jumping on any bandwagon with little regard for the facts - after all his time as a member of this council I would have hoped he would have learned some integrity."

On Tuesday night, hundreds of protestors descended onto the council's Bridge Street offices, handing over a petition for RBC to sell the London Street building to the legal entity of the Caribbean Action Group.

Cllr White said he was upset with Cllr Lovelock's comments.

He added: "They attacked me mercilessly. They are just lashing out and attacking me."