A parish councillor who said he tried to save village funds by using volunteers to refurbish a playing field has been cleared of behaving inappropriately.

The Standards Board for England, which investigates alleged breaches of the councillors' code of conduct, threw out allegations that Weston-on-the-Green councillor Robin Stafford-Allen was rude to other councillors and misused parish funds.

A letter from the board said fellow councillor John Roper claimed Mr Stafford-Allen "behaved in a rude and disrespectful fashion towards fellow councillors, undermining their work and damaging the reputation of the council".

It also said ex-councillor Patricia Cavan alleged Mr Stafford-Allen had carried out unauthorised work for the council, which had cost public money to rectify.

But the Standards Board said there was not enough evidence to investigate the allegations. In the letter to Mr Stafford-Allen, it said: "Elected members will occasionally take a robust or controversial stance on various local issues and their views may be at variance with the fellow members.

"In the course of their duties, members are likely to encounter occasional rude or ill-considered commentary."

It also said the allegation that Mr Stafford-Allen had carried out unauthorised work did have the potential to bring the council into disrepute but there was not enough evidence to investigate the claim.

Mr Stafford-Allen said he believed the complaints stemmed from his campaign to spend parish money on a new children's play area, rather than a football pitch.

Mr Roper and Mrs Cavan, who made the allegations, said they did not want to comment on the Standards Board's decision. Last summer, he tried to persuade the parish council to use volunteers to reseed and fence the football pitch, rather than spending money on professional contractors, so there would be enough cash left over for the play area.

But fellow councillors said under the terms of the pitch's lease, proper procedures needed to be followed and the work carried out by professionals.