The leader of Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) is staying on despite calls to resign, after it was found he did not follow the authority’s code of conduct.

Conservative councillor John Halsall, ward member for Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe, did not disclose his role as a director of Campaign to Protect Rural Wokingham (CPRW), a limited company set up to fight against development in the north of Wokingham borough.

The leader had faced calls to resign, but will only have to take training and receive a formal censure in writing as a result of the breach.

Elected members are told to register all personal interests but Cllr Halsall did not include this in his log.

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Following this issue being raised by Labour councillor Andy Croy at a council meeting in February, Cllr Halsall referred himself for investigation by WBC’s bosses and it was found he did not follow WBC’s code of conduct.

The leader told the News: “It is an oversight on my part. All I can do is apologise.

“It really was a genuine omission.

“As a backbencher, I started it as all the green belt is in my ward.

“The primary role of a councillor is to represent their residents so it would be very difficult to be a ward member for the only ward with a green belt and not be protective of the green belt.”

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Cllr Croy had called on the leader to resign in light of the omission.

He told the News: “In council, I said he was either ignorant of the rules or ignoring the rules.

“Either way, he has fallen short of the standards expected of him and he should resign.

“The episode shows we need much tighter rules.”

Cllr Halsall’s register of interests has now been updated to reflect his membership of CPRW Ltd.

The outcome of the code of conduct complaint was not discussed at WBC’s full council meeting on Thursday, June 15, in accordance with council procedures on the code of conduct.

Therefore, calls to resign were not addressed nor were councillors able to give their views on the issue.