A TORFAEN councillor is appealing against a decision to suspend her for one month after an ombudsman ruled she breached the members’ code of conduct.

Torfaen’s ethics and standards committee took the decision to suspend Greenmeadow ward councillor, Catherine Lewis after she reported herself for making donations to three local schools without declaring her personal interests in them.

She will also not receive her basic allowance during this period.

The report from the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales also found that Cllr Lewis failed to update the public register following being re-appointed to outside bodies including Thornhill Community Association.

The Argus reported last month how Cllr Lewis had reported herself in February last year following an ombudsman investigation into another matter regarding her donating money without declaring an interest.

Cllr Lewis e-mailed the council’s monitoring officer stating she believed she had made further mistakes.

Each councillor is given £2,000 to make donations to good causes in their wards and Cllr Lewis had made three lots of donations between £100 and £175 to local schools, including Greenmeadow Primary, without declaring her personal interests in them.

These were that she had children at two of the schools and was a governor at the other.

A council spokesman said: “The committee concluded there was a cumulative failure to comply with the code and the breaches were significant.”

Cllr Lewis said she would be appealing against the decision.

She said: “The donations I made did not benefit me in any way. I was new to the council and reported myself when I realised the errors. I feel I have been treated very unfairly.”

Cllr Lewis said she would return as a councillor following the suspension period or if her appeal is successful.