A LONG-SERVING Worcestershire politician says he is being "gagged" - after landing himself in hot water for telling the press about a departing chief executive's pay-off.

Your Worcester News can reveal how Councillor Tom Wells has been told he has breached Malvern Hills District Council's Code of Conduct for leaking details of Chris Bocock's handout.

Mr Bocock is walking away next month with more than £170,000 of taxpayers' money, with Wychavon District Council's boss Jack Hegarty taking on a well-publicised new shared role at the helm of both authorities.

His pay-off included £77,000 in redundancy money, around £91,000 into his pension pot and £5,000 to get help in finding another job.

The sum was published on confidential, pink papers for councillors, with the council trying to keep it hush.

Cllr Wells, a Liberal Democrat first elected in 1995, has been sent a formal breach letter from the monitoring officer John Williams, meaning he now faces some sort of formal punishment.

Cllr Wells, who leads Malvern's Lib Dems, says he has been left dismayed at his treatment.

"If this stayed confidential, it would mean the public would never know how much it cost them for Mr Bocock's entire redundancy package," he said.

"Why did I do it? I did it after a lot of soul searching, and came to the conclusion that the public should have a right to know what was agreed on their behalf.

"This council is pleading poverty, it is clearly in the public interest for this to be in the public domain, they elect us and we serve them.

"I have been a councillor nearly 20 years and this has never happened to me - my only 'crime', if that is what it is, is that I am prepared to be transparent.

"This is not about Chris Bocock, he was a very capable chief executive and I wish him well.

"It's about a secrecy, a lack of transparency which I think is just wrong."

The district council has options of giving him various punishments such as a suspension, limited access to resources like IT and emails, or some form of public admonishment in the form of a written warning.

But the authority is saying very little about what it is planning to do at this stage.

A spokesman said: "Councillor Wells has received a letter and a response is awaited."