AN official from the Standards Boards of England will investigate whether former Redditch Council Leader David Cartwright brought the local authority into disrepute as director of a collapsed town charity.

Conservative group leader Carole Gandy, who filed the complaint against Mr Cartwright, said she had now been notified of the action the board intends to take.

She alleges Mr Cartwright, as chief executive of Step Out Drop In, successfully obtained a council grant to buy computers for the charity but these were never purchased.

She also claims he arranged the lease of a property from the council for charity use but did not pay rent.

Mrs Gandy explained: "The Standards Board has two choices. They can either refer the matter back to Redditch Council for a monitoring officer to look into or investigate it themselves. In this case, they have chosen to investigate it themselves."

She added: "We are delighted with this outcome as we wanted it to be the Standards Board that conducted the investigation rather than it being referred back to the council."

She also said the Standards Board were obliged to complete 90 per cent of their investigations within six months.

Earlier this year, Government watchdog the Charity Commission published a report into the financial activities of the homeless charity, which collapsed with debts of £380,000.

The report said both Mr Cartwright and the charity's trustees were responsible for its demise. It also claimed Mr Cartwright had benefited personally from charity funds.

Meanwhile, a police investigation into Mr Cartwright's dealings as the charity's director will also continue.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said he did not know when the investigation would be closed.