NO further action will be taken against the vice-chairman of Ryedale District Council for breaking a council code of practice over a planning application.

Councillor Ann Hopkinson refused to leave a planning committee meeting in July when an application for a business of which she is a shareholder came up for discussion.

A letter has now been sent by Coun Hopkinson to the chairman of the planning committee and fellow members apologising for her actions. She has apologised for causing disruption and also acknowledged that the constitution did require her to leave the meeting because of her interests as a director in Hopkinson and Sons Ltd as a shareholder and a director.

It was due to be raised at last night’s district council planning meeting.

A statement from Ryedale District Council said Colin Langley, the independent person appointed to give a view on standards issues, was of the opinion that the code of conduct matter could be closed on the basis of a letter of apology, provided it was communicated to all the members of the planning committee to whom it was addressed.

“Against this background, Anthony Winship, the council’s solicitor and monitoring officer, has reached the conclusion after careful consideration of the facts of this case, that no useful purpose would be served by pursuing this matter any further and accor-dingly he does not therefore propose taking any further action,” the report added.