BURY'S council newspaper, sent to households across the borough, has been cleared of political bias by the Audit Commission.

Tory councillors had complained that Bury Metro News was stuffed with pictures and articles about Labour members, to the exclusion of other groups.

Church ward member Jack Walton asked the executive committee to include opposition councillors on the paper's editorial board to ensure that the views of all parties were heard.

"The paper is funded by the taxpayer and should represent the views of all groups," he said. "Opposition parties now have 24 out of 51 seats on the council, but the usual rules about proportional representation do not apply to the editorial board."

However, Labour's Wayne Campbell said the paper was designed to tell residents about the policies of the council, not the policies of the Labour party. He said that giving other parties their say would actually make it a political publication.

And council leader John Byrne said that the paper complied fully with the code of conduct on local government publicity.

He backed this up with comments from the District Auditor, to whom Tory group leader Roy Walker had complained. The auditor said that councillors were featured and quoted in the paper because of the positions they held on the council (e.g. executive member for resource), rather than the parties they represented.

"Certain people have bees in their bonnets and become obsessive about it," he added.

But Coun Walton said his group had received a substantial number of complaints, particularly about the issue published close to the May elections.

"Many people had not appreciated that it was not a Labour party document," he said. "Most other civic newspapers give the opposition parties a chance to comment on statements by portfolio holders. We would be failing the people who voted for us if we didnt put forward these views."