AN EALING councillor thrown out by the Conservatives for 'outrageous' comments about Indians in Southall says almost £4,000 was 'wasted' on a report which may see him officially disciplined.

Benjamin Dennehy said Southall had the "worst concentration of illegal immigrants in the UK" who are exploited by their own, Indian community in beds in sheds. That it had 'gambling, drinking, drug, prostitution and crime issues unlike many other parts of London' and was a 'constant on the public purse'.

He was widely condemned by other councillors at the time who called his comments outrageous and unacceptable, before being ejected from the Conservative Party the following month.

Mr Dennehy who is now a UKIP councillor stands by his comments and says the town hall wasted between £3,500 and £4,000 on a report drawn up after an official complaint by Liberal Democrat leader Gary Malcolm that has now been passed to the council's standards committee.

The council dispute the cost and say the figure was about £1,100.

Cllr Dennehy said: "The real story here is the waste of £4,000 of Ealing taxpayers money to decide whether my comments may or may not have offended some unknown persons in Southall. Not even a single councillor or resident from Southall (officially) complained."

The standards committee, made up of councillors and three independent people, will report back on a date to be set by the council. Following a change in the law in July last year, the committee no longer has the power to disqualify a councillor from holding office.

He could be told to apologise, be told not to do it again or formally reprimanded. Or the committee could decide to take no action.

A council spokeswoman said: "A complaint was made against councillor Dennehy by another councillor under the councillors’ code of conduct complaints procedure. The complaint was found to have sufficient merit to justify investigation.

“The investigation was carried out by in-house officers, with no cost to the council except for officer time. Following detailed questions from Cllr Dennehy, officers sought external legal advice costing £1,126.67 plus VAT.”