A former mayor and parish councillor has been rapped after she used a WhatsApp group chat to convince other council members to quash her next-door neighbours' planning application.
Liberal Democrat Eleanor Bell abused her position as a councillor when she influenced her colleagues to vote against a garage extension, a review found.
This was after her neighbours, Anna and Andrew Budge, submitted the application to Winchester City Council for their property in the Hampshire village of Hursley.
Cllr Bell - who lives opposite the Budge's - objected to the proposal, which she said left her and other residents on her road 'extremely disturbed'.
After the parish council advised that the application be refused, her neighbours submitted a Freedom of Information to the authority in which they were able to obtain WhatsApp evidence which demonstrated the 'active participation' of Cllr Bell in the decision.
