A SENIOR Stratford town councillor has vowed that his fight to clear the names of former councillors and officers blamed for the misuse of the town's charities is not over.

Councillor Ted Lloyd said he would not let the matter lie after councillors rejected his bid to write to the Charity Commission to object to its condemnation of the town council for its handling of the Guild and College Estates.

A disappointed coun Lloyd said he would continue the battle to make the Charity Commission accept it was partly responsible for the misuse of the money in a bid to spare those formerly working for the council any further blushes.

In an impassioned speech to the council's trustees committee on Tuesday, coun Lloyd urged colleagues to support his bid to exonerate the names of former council members, who had been embarrassed by the Charity Commission's report.

He proposed a motion asking councillors to tell the commission that trustees deplored the lack of recognition for the hard work of former councillors, that former town clerk Ruth Purton should be thanked for her work and that the charity watchdog should accept some responsibility.

Coun Lloyd, one of the council's longest-serving members, pointed to correspondence received during his mayoral year of 1999 from the commission, which raised concerns over the council using charity cash for day to day council affairs.

He said a meeting was scheduled between councillors and commission officers, but was postponed and never rearranged. He said the commission should have contacted the council chairman, the mayor, to point out the problems and it would have been solved there and then.

Despite his plea, supported by coun Cyril Bennis, councillors agreed with chairman Vince Seaman's assertion that any proposed amendments to the report should have been made when it was in its draft form and "the body should be left to rest in peace".

"I am very disappointed the council did not see fit to support me in challenging this report, which was full of minuses and no plusses which is embarrassing for those former councillors who acted in good faith," said coun Lloyd.

"The Charity Commission could have rescued this situation before and they should be prepared to accept their share of the blame."

He added: "I can't say too much, but this matter is not over. I don't know why the council did not support me, whether they didn't want to rock the boat or whatever, but the commission needs to have another look at its comments."