FORMER Inverclyde provost Ciano Rebecchi has been found guilty of flouting a catalogue of rules pertaining to conduct in public life.

Standards watchdogs agreed he'd breached five elements of the Councillors' Code of Conduct after he voted in favour of a planning application submitted by 'close friends'.

Councillor Rebecchi was yesterday censured by a Standards Commission Scotland panel which ruled he should have declared an interest and took no part in the decision.

Lindsey Gallanders, chair of the three-person panel, said: "It is the personal responsibility of councillors to be aware of, and comply with, the provisions in the Code."

Cllr Rebecchi failed to abstain from a planning board vote on an application for a roof timber enclosure at a factory in Gourock which was submitted by a family he has ties to.

The panel decided he had not met the 'objective test' as to whether a member of the public would reasonably regard the interest as significant enough to prejudice his decision-making as an elected member.

Other breaches of the Code by Cllr Rebecchi included not declaring that his friends who had submitted the planning application had a financial interest in its outcome.

The panel ruled that he had put himself, and Inverclyde Council, at risk of the decision being legally challenged.

He breached rule 7.4 of the Code, which states: "To reduce the risk of your, or your council's, decisions being legally challenged, you must not only avoid impropriety, but must at all times avoid any occasion for suspicion and any appearance of improper conduct."

Panel chair Mrs Gallanders said: "The requirement to declare interests means that the public can have the highest confidence that those elected to local government are making decisions in the public interest and not in the interests of themselves, or their friends and families.

"While Cllr Rebecchi was negligent in this regard on this occasion, the panel was pleased to note that he had subsequently recognised his failing and demonstrated awareness of the importance of compliance with the Code."

Cllr Rebecchi — who has been an elected member for 30 years without a blemish on his record until now — did not contest the evidence against him in the case.

His voice briefly trembled with emotion as he addressed the panel and stated: "I was proud to be a councillor, and I still am. It is an honour to be picked by people to represent them."

The panel was told that he took advice from another member of the planning board before deciding to take part in the vote last December.

Following the hearing, planning board chairman David Wilson said: "I have always had the greatest admiration for Cllr Rebecchi's integrity and I think the decision taken by the panel is reasonable, given that he has been 30 years a councillor with never having appeared before the Standards Commission.

"He admitted very honestly that in retrospect he should have declared an interest.

"The vote of the planning board was 8-2, so Cllr Rebecchi's vote would have made no difference to the outcome of the application."

A visibly relieved Cllr Rebecchi said: "I'm glad it's over. It was a misunderstanding, and that was it. Now we just get on with it."