No action is to be taken against city council executive committee member Colin Cook who was caught secretly taping a debate about the sale of a guest house last month.

Yesterday, the standards committee heard there was nothing in the council's new constitution to forbid the use of tape recorders during meetings, although there had been a rule forbidding it before October.

Last month, Cllr Paul Ingram, deputy leader of the council, challenged Cllr Cook when the tape recorder, hidden inside a plastic bag, started bleeping.

The council wants to sell Walton Street Guest House, after manager Pat Durrant's lease expired, but Cllr Cook has insisted that he should be allowed to stay.

Cllr Ingram told the committee that he feared Cllr Cook may have been intending to use the tape against the council if Mr Durrant took the case to a judicial review.

But Cllr Cook assured the committee this was not the case, and that he only tried to tape the debate so he would have an accurate record for himself. He said: "Although apparently I broke no council rule, the way I went about it was foolish and wrong."

He said he was relieved that no action had been taken against him, and still hoped that Mr Durrant could be allowed to remain.