A councillor has been forced to apologise after using public money for electioneering.

Councillor Brian Fitch, a Labour city councillor for Hangleton and Knoll in Hove, has been reprimanded for sending out 113 letters on council-headed paper billing himself as "the man who gets things done".

Coun Fitch sent the selfcongratulatory correspondence after a planning application to build a Vodafone mast in Olive Road, Hove, was turned down.

A complaint was made to the council by a resident, who claims he was the real mastermind behind the campaign and Coun Fitch was trying to steal his glory.

Former Hangleton ward councillor Mark Barnard, of Bolsover Road, Hove, wrote to Alan McCarthy, the council's chief executive, saying that Coun Fitch had misused taxpayers' money. The complaint was upheld.

Mr Barnard, who represented the former Hangleton ward from 1999 to 2003, said: "You can send out letters to your constituents but you can't put a political angle on it.

"It made it look as if he was responsible for the petition. Using taxpayers' money to push for your own political gain isn't acceptable."

Mr Barnard, who runs the A1 Sussex Ltd property company, said residents were angry that Coun Fitch had taken credit for the campaign's success and had used council-headed paper with the slogan "switch to Fitch - the man who gets things done".

In his response Mr McCarthy said Coun Fitch had been asked to remove the strapline from any future letters with the council logo.

He said: "I can confirm that 113 letters were sent out by second class post from the leadership office on July 21, 2006.

"When the officer checked with Coun Fitch if these letters should be sent from the leadership office, Coun Fitch confirmed the letters could go out from this office as it was understood the letter concerned ward issues.

"On reflection, this should not have happened and I can only apologise for the error."

He said he had spoken to Coun Fitch, who apologised.

Coun Fitch told The Argus he had not believed there was anything wrong with the strapline.

He said the letters were sent after he spoke successfully in opposition to the mobile phone application at a planning meeting.

They were funded with money set aside in the budget for letters sent by the Labour group.

He said: "It isn't like it was directly out of the council budget.

The slogan goes on a lot of things.

"If people aren't happy with it, I'll take it off.

"That is not a big issue for me.

The big issue was that my work was successful.

"Mr Barnard failed to turn up to the planning meeting. I was a member of the planning committee.

I made a speech against it. I convinced the committee to vote with me.

"It is my ward. Mark Barnard isn't a councillor."

He said Mr Barnard had not been re-elected since transferring from the Conservative group to the Lib Dems midway through his term in office.