SOMERSET County Council has refused to release documents relating to the censure of Cllr David Huxtable following accusations of favouritism over the abandoned sale of the freehold of the West Somerset Railway.

The authority dismissed a Freedom of Information request for documents relating to the closed-doors standards committee panel hearing which found Cllr Huxtable guilty of breaching the council's code of conduct.

The council claimed there was a real risk it could face court action if details of the complaints against Cllr Huxtable and his defence were made public.

Victoria Baxter, of the county council's information request team, said: "Releasing further information would be detrimental to the authority, due to the allegedly defamatory nature of some of the content.

"This would result in public money and resources being diverted to deal with the resulting fall out.

"If the council were to be taken to court, this would generate further media and public interest on a matter where a decision has been made and published."

She said that, on balance, the documents relating to the hearing would not be released "due to the very real risk of being taken to court and the impact on resources and cost of this to the council it is in the public interest to withhold the information".

The West Somerset Free Press submitted the Freedom of Information request immediately after the standards panel ruling was made public.

It concluded that Cllr Huxtable, who has since resigned as a cabinet member, had breached the authority's code of conduct over his handling of the freehold sell-off during a time when he had the power to make an executive decision on the issue.

The panel's findings were partly based on a report by independent investigator Nigel Lyons, as well as evidence given at the hearing itself.

The Free Press had asked for a copy - edited or otherwise - of Mr Lyons' report, but the county council ruled it must remain secret.

Ms Baxter said: "There are references throughout the document to personal information of individuals who have not given their consent for this information to be released.

"It is not possible to anonymise the content to the extent that it will not identify those individuals because of information already in the public domain.

"Whilst we have received consent from the majority of the complainants to publish information relating to themselves, there are constant references to third party individuals who have not given their consent."

She confirmed there had been six complainants giving evidence against Cllr Huxtable but that two of the six had refused to allow their names to be made public.

Those happy for their details and role in the inquiry to be published were John Irven, Mike Rigby, Mr Henderson and Mr Bench.

The sale of the railway freehold was shelved by the county council after a separate Freedom of Information request uncovered a series of emails between Cllr Huxtable and the West Somerset Railway Association, which was in a head-to-head battle with the West Somerset Railway plc to buy the freehold.

Critics claimed the emails showed Cllr Huxtable favoured selling to the association and that he intended to keep the sale quiet and would try and get those against selling to the association "on side".

After considering Mr Lyons' still-secret report and hearing evidence behind closed doors, the standards panel ruled Cllr Huxtable had used or attempted to use his position as a member improperly to give himself or any other person an advantage or disadvantage and had conducted himself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing the council or his office into disrepute.

The panel also found that Cllr Huxtable had acted in such a way as to cause suspicion or the appearance of failing to comply with two further requirements of the code of conduct.

These were to avoid doing anything which compromised the impartiality of those who work for or on behalf of the council and also not to disclose information given in confidence by anyone or information acquired which was of a confidential nature.