A BLACKWOOD councillor is delighted after he was cleared of breaching the councillors' code of conduct.

Councillor Leon Gardiner was reported to the Local Government Ombudsman last year.

It was alleged he failed on two occasions to declare an interest in a planning application for a development that could benefit his brother, who lived nearby.

But in his report, ombudsman Adam Peat said Councillor Gardiner, 72, would not benefit from the application and therefore had not been required to declare an interest.

"I find no evidence of any failure on the part of Councillor Gardiner to comply with the code of conduct," he concluded.

The complaint related to a planning application before Caerphilly council's planning committee last year, to open a footpath between Clos Coed Bach and Apollo Way in Blackwood.

Residents objecting to the footpath claimed it would benefit Councillor Gardiner's brother, who lived in the area, and that the councillor should have declared an interest.

They said he had been influential in swaying votes in favour of the path.

But Councillor Gardiner said he had told the meeting his brother and sister-in-law lived in Apollo Way.

In his evidence to the ombudsman, he said the couple lived half a mile from the site of the footpath and that they were both disabled.

His brother, he said, was in a wheelchair and had been housebound for 20 years, explaining that the couple could not benefit from the footpath.

"I felt there was no advantage to them because of their disability so I felt that I could vote and represent the interests of people who might benefit," he added.

Councillor Gardiner said he had been approached by residents who wanted the footpath, as it would be a safer route to school.

"I have had this hanging over me for six or seven weeks. I am very relieved and I will continue to serve Blackwood 100 per cent."