Yet another town council bullying row has erupted in Dartmouth as the mayor effectively slapped a gag on his own town clerk in a remarkable public confrontation.

Town clerk and council finance officer Chris Horan was trying to give financial advice to councillors as they prepared to commit the town to up to £100,000 over the next 10 years to underwrite the running costs of the new town swimming pool, when he was told to shut up.

Mayor Paul Allen refused to allow Mr Horan to speak as the town clerk appealed at least twice for a chance to make his financial statement.

Minutes later the council agreed to accept a Swimming Pool Trust business plan which has finalised a council decision to hand over £150,000 to the trust to help build the £2.4m new pool – and up to £10,000 a year for each of the next 10 years to cover any losses the pool might make.

The decision not to allow Mr Horan to speak outraged former mayor Debbie Morris. She told Cllr Allen: 'I think you are out of order. The town clerk has to be able to give us the information that we need to know.'

And Cllr Les Barnes joined in the attack on Cllr Allen, saying: 'You are totally out of order.'

Now deputy mayor Dave Cawley says he has again reported Cllr Allen to the South Hams Council monitoring officer for bullying.

Just three weeks ago, Cllr Cawley reported both Cllr Allen and fellow Cllr Roger Chilcott to the monitoring officer for bullying after he was allegedly threatened with being thrown off the council's traffic and transport group for talking out of turn.

And three years ago the town was involved in similar accusations when the then councillor Brian Boughton was accused of bullying Mr Horan and ended up being banned from holding a council post for three years following a Standards Board hearing.

Cllr Cawley said after Monday's meeting: 'The clerk is the council's responsible finance officer.

'He had a small report that he wanted to give, designed to make councillors think about what they were doing.

'He was literally shouted down by the mayor and told that he could not give the report. He was gagged in a bullying fashion.'

After the meeting, Mr Horan said he had simply been trying to advise councillors on the significance of their decision, along with the financial commitments the council already has.

'I was extremely disappointed that as responsible finance officer I did not have the opportunity to give the council the advice which I felt I needed to give.

'I have now sent all the councillors a copy of what I was going to say in order to avoid speculation,' he said.

Cllr Allen told the Chronicle afterwards that what Mr Horan had to say to the meeting had not been relevant to the debate over the acceptance of the swimming pool trust's business plan.

'I asked him if he had any more facts to give,' he said. 'The information he wanted to give had already been given to the council at the previous meeting.'

He said he was not aware he had been reported over bullying allegations and he added: 'I don't recall shouting.'

Just minutes before the gagging row broke out, councillors had tried to push through a new swimming pool motion altering the wording of the decision they made just one month ago – only to be told by Mr Horan that they would be breaking local government rules if they continued.

Councillors are barred from changing their minds within six months of making a formal decision to ensure some decision-making continuity.

Despite the row, the councillors agreed to accept the original decision and agreed they would accept the all-important swimming pool business plan – which they had only been allowed to see after signing a confidentiality agreement.

The recorded vote showed that councillors Rob Lyon, Robin Springett, Steve Smith, Chris Smith, Felicity Smith, Andy Carter and Dave Gent voted for the cash go ahead.

Only Les Barnes voted against it and Debbie Morris, Dave Cawley and Tessa de Galleani all abstained.

Cllr Chris Smith was supported by other councillors when he declared the pool business plan was 'excellent' and declared it could be accepted as a 'viable plan'.

But Cllr Barnes said he wanted the council to 'really think' about committing the taxpayers to underwriting the running of the pool for the next 10 years and he warned: 'We haven't got the money.'