Council leader cleared over voting on sale of public toilets

A council leader has been cleared of allegations that he wrongly voted on the sale of some disused public toilets.

Jeff Cant, the Conservative leader of Weymouth & Portland Borough Council, voted on the matter despite having declared in the register of interest that he owned two adjacent buildings.

But an investigation into Cllr Cant’s conduct found no case to answer.

Council chief executive Matt Prosser said: “The borough council has robust procedures in place for looking into Code of Conduct complaints.

“The council has co-operated fully with the police at every stage and the proper process has been followed.

“Following a lengthy and independent enquiry the Crown Prosecution Service has now decided that there is no case to answer. Our actions show that we take complaints very seriously and we will continue to do so. We have given detailed responses previously and now have no further comment to make.”

Weymouth & Portland said the toilets had to be sold as they had become too costly to maintain.

The redundant toilets, which came with a four-bedroom flat above them, were sold for £282,000 to a couple from Buckinghamshire.

Mark Smulian