A parish councillor has been suspended from his role for three months after breaching rules surrounding a controversial planning application.

A complaint was made about Ilkley Parish Councillor Andrew McKie after he failed to declare an interest during a planning debate last year.

The councillor, who is the council’s plans committee chairman, failed to disclose an interest in a controversial application to rebuild Ilkley Grammar School on a site in Ben Rhydding despite it being just a few hundred yards from his home.

Proposals to rebuild the school on green belt land off Wheatley Lane, in Ben Rhydding, divided the community despite pleas from the school for a new site.

Coun McKie voted in a debate in February last year without declaring an interest and has now been suspended from his planning role for the next three months.

The ban was imposed by a determination sub-committee at Bradford Council and they have now published their decision after an investigation and two private hearings in July and last month.

Coun McKie declined to comment but he is believed to be preparing a response to the sub-committee’s decision.

The determination sub-committee said: “Having considered the size of the development and its proximity to Coun McKie’s property, it was likely to affect his well-being and he therefore had a personal interest which should have been disclosed.

“The interest should also have been regarded as prejudicial because the development was sufficiently close to Coun McKie’s property, large scale, controversial and high-profile that is was reasonable for a member of the public in possession of the facts to consider that Coun McKie’s personal interest was so significant that it is likely to affect his ability to judge what was in the wider public interest.”

The sub-committee says Coun McKie will be suspended for three months or until he has undertaken one-to-one training with Bradford Council’s monitoring officer.

It also suggests all Ilkley parish councillors could receive training on the requirement of their code of conduct.

Coun McKie has until later this month to appeal the suspension.

No plans to rebuild Ilkley Grammar School went ahead after the Government scrapped the Building Schools for the Future programme last year and funding was withdrawn.