A ROW has broken out over a decision to spend hundreds of pounds on a logo for a Hampshire council.

Chandler’s Ford Parish Council has reported one of its members to a democracy watchdog, saying an article he had written about the matter in a Liberal Democrat newsletter was ‘deliberately designed to bring the parish council into disrepute.’ David Pragnell, who is one of six Lib Dem members on the Conservative-controlled council, had argued that the £400 the council’s policy committee planned to spend on a logo was a ‘waste of taxpayer’s money’.

He also stated in the article that the contractor chosen to design the logo was the brother-in-law of Tory council member Judith Grajewski.

Members of the council have now voted to refer Cllr Pragnell’s actions to Standards for England, a board set up to investigate alleged breaches of a code of conduct used by local authorities.

The parish council’s chairman, Magaret Atkinson, said: “The article was worded in a way that was clearly designed to give readers the impression that something improper had taken place in the award of this contract.”

Cllr Pragnell has dismissed the decision to refer him to the regulator as ‘mischief making’.

He added: “We need a logo like we need a hole in the head.”

Standards for England will investigate the allegation.