AN UNDER-FIRE long-serving councillor has been publicly identified as the man at the centre of row over "missing" railings belonging to Yarm Town Council.

During a meeting of the council Cllr Andrew Sherris responded to accusations he had sold the cemetery railings to a scrap merchant and organised their sale for £300 by noting the railings were in fact "all present and correct."

The Conservative town and Stockton borough councillor also stated the railings had merely been removed for some of them to be cleaned and painted. It also emerged that money secured would be been used to set up a fund to help Yarm chapel, not for personal gain.

Outside the meeting, Cllr Sherris, who has been suspended from the Conservative group, told The Northern Echo that he was the victim of "unpleasant behaviour" by political rivals in the run up the elections in May.

During the meeting, Cllr Sherris had been accused of organising the removal of the seven tonnes of 6ft high railings, which are 432ft long, without permission.

One member of the public read out an email from Cllr Sherris, purportedly to fellow councillors, in which the councillor said: "By the way, I have secured £300 to start off the chapel fund and the railings are now cleared."

The council heard that the railings would be worth double that amount as scrap and commissioning new iron railings of that length would cost thousands of pounds. Others said that permission should have been granted before the railings were taken away.

Addressing Cllr Sherris directly in the meeting, Cllr Bob Wegg said: "Alan, you can't go a a shop, pinch a bottle of whisky and put it back when you get caught." Cllr Wegg also said a petition had been struck up to save the railings.

Jason Hadlow, chairman of Yarm Residents Association, a group campaigning for election to the council, accused the authority of "sweeping it all under the carpet" and said the councillors "would all end up in prison."

However Cllr Sherris was defended by chairman of Yarm Town Council, Cllr Peter Monck, who noted that the railings were still there and that the matter should be discussed in private as no-one had in fact made an official complaint.

In the end the council agreed to defer any decision about what to do with the railings until a new council was constituted after May's elections.

Cllr Sherris was not allowed to vote on Stockton Borough Council's budget recently as he had not paid council tax on a second home but the matter has now been resolved.

New leader of Stockton Conservatives, Cllr Ben Houchen, has instigated an investigation against Cllr Sherris and he had already been deselected as Yarm's Conservative candidate for the forthcoming election.