A councillor has been stripped of his position on Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council’s (TMBC) area two planning committee for bringing the authority into disrepute.

At a meeting of full council in Kings Hill last night councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of issuing a formal reprimand to councillor Mike Taylor, ward member for Borough Green and Long Mill, and preventing him from voting on planning matters affecting north east of the borough.

The decision follows a meeting of TMBC's hearing panel of the joint standards committee last month to investigate allegations Cllr Taylor had bullied senior council officers and damaged the council's reputation through comments circulated through emails and his website.

Cllr Taylor has repeatedly accused council officers and TMBC's planning department as a whole, of orchestrating a cover-up over its handling of a residential development at the Isles Quarry, near Dark Hill.

The site was stripped of its green belt status in 2003 and planning permission was granted in 2013.

Cllr Taylor maintains that Borough Green's parish plan was tampered with to facilitate the development and there had not been a full disclosure of information about contamination problems at the quarry.

He sent dozens of communications expressing these views to council officers. After a meeting with officials about his conduct in 2014, he referred himself for investigation.

TMBC spent £11,100 on an independent solicitor to look into Cllr Taylor's conduct. The solicitor concluded that bullying had taken place and the council's reputation had been damaged.

But at the council meeting held in Gibson Drive last night standards committee chairman Janet Sergison said the panel Cllr Taylor had not "crossed the line" as officers in question had not felt bullied.

She said: "The hearing panel’s view on the allegation of bullying was that Cllr Taylor had not “crossed the line” as none of the Officers in question felt bullied. If his comments had been directed at junior Officers, the Panel indicated that it may have come to a different conclusion."

However, Cllr Sergison said that Cllr Taylor had put TMBC's reputation at "severe risk" and recommended heavy sanctions.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Peter Bolt (Con), said Cllr Taylor had referred himself to attract attention out of self-interest.

He said: " So is it that this person who is recorded here to voluntarily referred himself for examination by the standards committee simply to keep his show on the road, he was losing pace, there was nowhere else to go.

"You ask yourself if a person refers themselves as a victim, what is their nature?

"He is deluded that he is above the rank and style of other councillors."

As a result of the vote, Cllr Taylor will be excluded from voting on planning matters until April 2017, but he will still be able to attend meetings, call in applications and speak for up to three minutes thanks to his position as a parish councillor.

Cllr Tayor said he felt he was given a fair hearing by the standards committee, but called for the launching of an informal inquiry to look into the veracity of his claims. This was rejected. He later added: ""TMBC have bought themselves into disrepute , and are now trying to gag the whistle-blower."

Cllr Sergison added: "The Panel took great pains to ensure a fair hearing and, given the decision reached, felt compelled to recommend these sanctions to Council.

"The reputation of Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council has been upheld and I would like to thank my fellow Panel members and Council staff for the time and attention to detail they have devoted to this issue.”