A STUDY of minutes from Lyme Regis town council meetings has revealed there may have been 200 breaches of the codes of conduct by councillors in recent years.

Disqualified town councillor Stan Williams came up with the figure after his daughter trawled through past council minutes while preparing his defence for the Standards Board investigation.

He was banned from serving as a councillor for six months after an adjudication panel found him guilty of breaching the codes of conduct.

"Every local person has been quite wrong in a number of cases here," he said, adding that 200 instances had been found. "If I was a bitter and twisted person I would be writing to the Standards Board.

"There is now going to be a long period of sorting out. I have carried the can for it. I have been here a long time and I have made some enemies.

"It is quite, quite frightening. That is the law, and that is it. I was lucky getting a six-month ban."

Mr Williams' contribution to the town was rewarded with a round of applause by fellow councillors at his last meeting on Friday.

He warned councillors that any of them involved in town activities, or who had families who were, were at risk of breaching the codes and said they needed to be very careful.

Coun Williams said: "In a little town like this we are all friends, or I thought we were. We don't get paid. We do it because we like our town and we want to look after it."

The fallout has already affected one planning meeting after two councillors had to withdraw from discussions about an application - leaving too few left to legally make a decision.

And councillors said they are now so fearful of breach they did not know when to declare an interest on not, particularly with discussions due this summer on grants for local groups.

Mayor Barbara Austin said: "I just feel at the moment that we are walking on eggshells."

But Coun Ken Meech said it did not mean they were stopped from discussing town issues they cared about. He said: "We have to have some sort of common sense.

"Let's not frighten ourselves to death. What about coastal protection? Are you really suggesting we should declare a personal interest and go outside?"

Town clerk Mike Lewis is now working with West Dorset District Council to address councillors' concerns and investigate the training available.

The district council's standards committee was kept uptodate with developments at its meeting on Wednesday.

Councillors were told the council's monitoring officer was discussing appropriate training with the town council and was also working with the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils.