A VALE of Glamorgan councillor has been censured after complaints were made over a remark he made during a public council meeting.

Cllr Nic Hodges, who is also the mayor of Barry, made the comment during a full council meeting in September this year.

The Vale council upheld a complaint that he had breached an equal opportunities regulation under the Members' Code of Conduct.

A second complaint against Cllr Hodges was dismissed by the panel.

The censure given to the Plaid Cymru councillor is the lowest form of disciplinary action that can be taken by a council and is handled internally.

Members of the council had been discussing a question relating to a press release issued by the Vale council about their involvement with Pride Cymru – an annual LGBTQ pride event held in Cardiff.

Labour councillor Owen Griffiths was addressing the chamber about the number of lesbian, gay and bisexual AMs and MPs across Labour and the Conservative Party in Wales, when Cllr Hodges interjected to ask: "Are you asking for volunteers?"

He was subsequently the subject of a complaint over the incident from Conservative councillor Leighton Rowlands.

Cllr Rowlands has also now called on Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood to conduct her own investigation, saying he was deeply "saddened" by his colleague's comments.

Deputy Vale mayor Cllr Rowlands, who is openly gay, said: “It was really disheartening to hear a fellow councillor making such disparaging comments, and I think that the leader of Plaid Cymru should consider whether there is a place for remarks of that nature in Plaid Cymru."

The Conservative councillor added: “It’s tough to open up about such a personal aspect of my life on such a public platform – but I made the decision to do so because I thought we’d moved on from such ignorance.

“It only goes to show the challenges we still face in the LGBTQ community in 2017.

"I know that the great majority of Barry residents have a much more accepting and progressive attitude towards homosexuality. It is a shame that an elected councillor has failed to show that same respect."

A Plaid Cymru spokesman said that the incident had been blown out of proportion, as was reflected by the low-level sanction issued to Cllr Hodges.

The spokesman said: "A complaint was made against Cllr Hodges after he challenged a councillor from another party who was making a misleading statement to score political points. Some parts of the complaint were accepted, others were rejected.

"The Vale council has a policy for dealing with low-level complaints such as this which are not important enough to be considered by the Ombudsman for Wales, and so the matter is concluded.

"This process is quite different to formal council suspensions given to Labour and Conservative councillors in recent years for their behaviour."

The Vale of Glamorgan council confirmed that they had dealt with a "low level" allegation of a breach of the members’ code of conduct.

A statement on their website reads: "In this instance there was found to be a basis to the complaints and Cllr Hodges has been censured."