The chairman of comedian Frankie Howerd's Trust has cost the taxpayer £170,000 by making a string of complaints against his fellow Somerset parish councillors.

Chris Byrne, 42, who lives with the star's former partner Dennis Heymer in Somerset, denied he was abusing the system, although not one of a reported 97 complaints has been upheld.

Mr Byrne has been on Cheddar, Axbridge, Compton Bishop, and Weare parish councils in Somerset for 18 months.

Some of his complaints to the local authority standards committees are still under investigation.

In his latest protest, Mr Byrne accused Cheddar parish council of disrespecting his faith after it voted him off the planning committee when he missed a meeting.

At the time he argued he was away in Rome at a general audience with the Pope.

Cheddar Parish Council chairman Peter Lythgoe said Mr Bryne had been voted off because of a low attendance record and the new issue was just the latest in a series.

Cllr Lythgoe said the cost of £170,000 "wasn't far wide of the mark", and that despite his charity work, Mr Byrne was costing the taxpayer a large amount of money.

Fellow councillors have claimed Mr Byrne is misusing the system in a costly manner, and some have called for his resignation. But Mr Byrne, of Wavering Down, has refused to step down.

The charity campaigner said his actions were "the price of democracy" and that it was his public duty to complain where he saw a failure in standards.