A LEADING member of Worcestershire County Council has had to repay expenses after it was revealed he put in duplicate claims on eight separate occasions.

Conservative councillor Stephen Clee, the cabinet member for corporate services at the county council, repaid almost £100 in travel expenses following an in-house investigation earlier this year.

Details of his “potentially duplicated and/or overlapping” claims were released by the council following a Freedom of Information request by your Worcester News.

The matter has already been referred to the council’s standards committee, which deals with complaints about councillors. However, following a private hearing, it decided not to pursue disciplinary action.

The repayments are believed to relate to occasions when Coun Clee – who is also a member of Wyre Forest District Council – took trips on council business and then claimed expenses from both authorities.

Coun Clee said in a statement: “The system used by the council when it comes to allowance claims is very rigorous, and I totally support this. In proof this system works, it was pointed out to me there were errors in a very small percentage of claims I made.

“These were genuine mistakes on my part and as soon as this was pointed out to me by officers, I paid back the amounts in question – which totalled £94.80 – straight away.”

It was revealed in February that a cabinet member was under investigation over their expenses by County Hall’s then-opposition leader John Buckley.

Full copies of Coun Clee’s travel expenses for the 2008-09 financial year, obtained separately by this newspaper, also reveal he claimed £264 for a trip to London to discuss pension funds in April 2008. This included a hotel, parking fees, and 352-mile mileage claim at 39.5p per mile. His other trips to London involved 290-mile claims and did not require hotels. His expenses also show that a £30.70 claim to see a concert at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, and a £12.64 claim for a trip to the Three Counties Show in Malvern, were both struck out.

However, he did receive £71.10 for a 180-mile claim following a tour of the Worcestershire Hub service centres at Worcester, Redditch, Kidderminster, Evesham and Malvern in a day – although a circuit of the five locations starting and finishing at his Bewdley home can be completed in 87 miles.

Simon Mallinson, the council’s head of legal services, said: “Thorough and robust procedures are in place to verify expenses claims, to ensure public money is spent correctly. These procedures were audited this year and were found to be sound.”