Rougham Estates invited St Edmundsbury borough councillors to the Wings, Wheels and Steam event – but councillors were advised not to accept as it could compromise their position on plans for a link road.

John Agnew, from Rougham Estates, said: "It is absolutely outrageous. What we wanted to do was to get the councillors up here to see what we are doing. Most of them have never been – they have no idea what we are doing.

"It just seems an awful shame that our initiative has been turned into politics, which is the quickest destroyer of anything good."

Mr Agnew and the Rougham Tower Association are worried a new link road to the expanding Suffolk Business Park could threaten a museum which commemorates the lives of airmen who gave their lives during World War Two.

Members of the public had to pay £9 to get into the event.

Cllr David Nettleton, an independent, said: "To say that I can be bought for £9, I thought was a bit insulting to be honest."

He did not attend but Labour Cllr Mark Ereira-Guyer, who took up the invitation, said: "I think it is quite important to go to these events so that you know what you are talking about.

"I would like to think people at events like these can invite democratically elected councillors in good faith."

Under local Government rules councillors have to declare gifts worth more than £25.

But in an email to all councillors, the council's head of legal services Joy Bowes said: "Members are generally advised not to accept gifts and hospitality in their capacity as councillors, as this may create the perception that they will be favourably disposed towards the donor in any decisions that concern him.

"Members who accept the invitations risk compromising their impartiality."

Both the council and the Rougham Tower Association declined to comment.

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