A DISGRACED Inverclyde SNP councillor found to have flouted the ethical code for elected members has been booted out of his party's group at the Municipal Buildings, the Telegraph can reveal.

Innes Nelson - who intervened in a planning application for a major development near his home without declaring an interest - has been suspended 'temporarily' by leader Elizabeth Robertson and colleagues.

A Standards Commission panel ruled on Wednesday that Nelson had breached the Councillors' Code of Conduct when he voted on a £350m proposal by billionaire businessmen Sandy and James Easdale to transform the former IBM site at Spango Valley.

The Commision immediately suspended Nelson from all involvement with the council for a month and the SNP group moved swiftly yesterday to also distance themselves from him.

Councillor Robertson confirmed: "Cllr Nelson has been temporarily suspended from the SNP group in council.

"The length of this suspension will be a decision of the group made at a future meeting."

Members of Inverclyde Council’s planning board had in 2022 considered an application to build 450 homes at the Spango Valley site, which was made by billionaire businessmen Sandy and James Easdale.

Nelson – who resides at the nearby Chrisswell Farm – voted to grant the application subject to a number of conditions recommended by council officers, which included the imposition of a 270-home cap on the site.

The Standards Commission panel carpeted him for failing to declare an interest at the meeting about the fact that his sprawling home was located near the site.

The Easdale brothers said that the planning decision had made the entire project financially unviable. They have since won approval for their original 450-home development plan.

The businessmen and McGill's Buses tycoons are demanding Nelson's resignation, declaring that the delay had caused 'untold damage' to the project. 

Nelson - who previously assaulted a traffic warden and was convicted for speeding - did not respond when approached by the Telegraph about his suspension and the calls for him to resign.

James Easdale added that he and his brother were considering whether to pursue Nelson on a personal basis for the costs that have been incurred.

It would not be the first time the Easdale brothers have pursued an individual for compensation.

Vlogger Paul Hendry was recently found in contempt of court after hounding the billionaire brothers by making defamatory allegations about them in online videos.

The self-styled ‘citizen journalist’ had already been ordered to pay £400,000 in damages to the two businessmen in 2022.

In 2017, Sandy Easdale won a £200,000 damages case at the Court of Session against a Greenock community activist John Houston.

Nelson was reported to the procurator fiscal after assaulting an Inverclyde Council traffic warden on Cathcart Street in 2017.

He later claimed that the charges had been dropped, despite accepting an offer from the fiscal to pay the warden £200 in compensation for his violence.

The councillor was also rapped with a £110 fine and penalty points on his driving licence after he pleaded guilty to a road traffic offence.