A BROMSGROVE district councillor will be back in the hot seat this Friday when his three-month suspension ends.

Councillor Athol Deakin (Lab-Sidemoor) was suspended after using threatening behaviour to fellow ward representative Cllr Bill Newnes.

But the ban ends at 8pm on Friday night and Cllr Deakin said he was ready to get back to business.

He told the Advertiser/Messenger: "I have been kept well informed by the Labour group of what is happening and am fully up to speed with Sidemoor issues, especially the PFI schools project.

"I was downbeat when the suspension started, which is only natural. I would, again, like to apologise to Sidemoor residents because I let them down, but I will hopefully play a leading role in the future," he said.

At a special disciplinary meeting of the district council's standards committee in May, Cllr Deakin was suspended for breaching Code of Conduct requirements.

The hearing related to an incident in June 2004 and involved a complaint by former Labour member Cllr Bill Newnes (Con-Sidemoor). It was the first time the Standards Board for England had referred back a case for a local hearing by the authority's own standards committee.

At the hearing a Standards Board legal officer said the public had various expectations of councillors, who were important figures in the community, and they should uphold the law. The committee unanimously took the view that Cllr Deakin's behaviour was unacceptable and the three-month suspension penalty was imposed.

The suspension could have been reduced to one month if Cllr Deakin had apologised in writing to Cllr Newnes and Cllr June Griffiths (Con-Alvechurch) who witnessed the altercation, but he refused to do so.