POP Jolley has been suspended for four months from Manea Parish Council following a hearing today by a standards committee sub committee.

But Councillor Jolley’s role as a district councillor for Wimblington and his chairmanship of the overview and scrutiny committee remain unaffected.

A council spokesman confirmed tonight the period of Cllr Jolley’s suspension which followed a determination panel hearing this afternoon at Fenland Hall.

Cllr Jolley was found to have breached the code of conduct by failing to declare a personal interest in Poppyfields Investments when a planning application was being considered by Manea Parish Council in January 2011.

Details of a 140-page probe undertaken by an ‘investigating officer’ have not been made public but an outline of the allegations against Cllr Jolley has been released.

The case revolves around a complaint made on April 15 last year by a Mr Daniels of Manea that on January 17 Cllr Jolley “failed to declare a personal and prejudicial interest in a matter at a meeting of Manea Parish Council”.

The allegation centres on pre-application discussions for a proposed development on land owned by Cllr Jolley.

An initial assessment committee referred the matter to Fenland Council’s monitoring officer and an outside solicitor, Stephen Pearson of Freeth Cartwright LLP, was given the task of completing an inquiry.

That inquiry, “which members agreed should remain confidential”, concluded that Cllr Jolley had breached the council’s code of conduct.

The standards committee then decided a ‘determination hearing’ would decide what, if any, sanction to apply.

Ironically, such is Cllr Jolley’s popularity that despite coming off the council for some years following his unexplained resignation as deputy leader nearly seven years ago he stood last May unopposed.

He is the ward member for Wimblington and defeated village businesswoman Amanda Carlin to the nomination.

The wealthy former farmer and developer described himself to voters as being “very passionate about the area. I was born, and have lived, locally all my life.”

He is a former Wimblington Parish Council chairman and for 12 years – since it opened - he has chaired Parkfield Sports.