COUNCILLORS are to be banned from guzzling complimentary tea and biscuits while on planning site visits in a bid to avoid allegations of bribery.

The new instructions, which also cover sandwiches, restrict Lancashire County Council members and officers to accepting hospitality of a 'minimum level.'

They are included in a new code of protocol due to be approved by the council's development control committee next week.

A county council spokesman said: "It is absolutely essential that officers and councillors are seen to be impartial when it comes to dealing with planning applications.

"Certainly, sitting down to lunch while on a site visit, or accepting gifts such as wine, should be refused.

"And light refreshments should only be accepted if it will cause offence to refuse. Even then, they must be to the minimum, like just one drink and a snack."

Other new rules include that all site visits by councillors and officers -- which often take place so councillors can see the site of a proposed development before making a decision -- must take place on a coach.

This is to provide them with a handy refuge should protesters or supporters of a development try and hi-jack the site visit.

The new guidelines add: "Councillors and officer should be prudent about their social contacts with known developers, agents, groups and associations."

County Council leader Hazel Harding said: "There may be occasions when people are out on some bleak moor somewhere looking at a planning application for a quarry when a cup of tea is offered, but there should never be any more than that.

"We need to be seen to be fair and this protocol, which I welcome, ensures that no one will have the grounds to sling mud at us if a planning application does not go their way."

Lib Dem leader Coun David Whipp added: "The rules we have to follow are very complex and we can't be seen to be taking favours or not having open minds."

"It really is common sense and shouldn't need spelling out."

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: "All councils should have protocols for planning, and the important thing is that councils are seen to be impartial."

Donna Hall, executive director of corporate resources at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "The council has a code of conduct for all officers and members which includes checklists for accepting hospitality from people with business with the council.

"The basic principle is to consider the extent of the hospitality and whether it can be considered reasonable or appropriate and what is the motivation behind the gift or hospitality before accepting it.

"Every officer must record all hospitality they receive as a matter of course and it is part of their contract of employment."