Police are conducting an inquiry into alleged “serious criminal offences” surrounding a £28.5m bypass scheme following an investigation by freelance journalist Richard Orange.

The former Lincolnshire Echo and Western Daily Press reporter teamed up with BBC reporter Matthew Gull to break the story.

Detectives are looking into procedures and practices at the local authority after the journalists made a routine check of councillors’ declarations of interests in an official register at County Offices, Lincoln, following the June local elections.

After the story broke, Richard Orange, who runs the Orchard News Bureau in Lincoln, said: “Councils must keep an official register of members’ interests available for public inspection, and councillors must keep records up-to-date and complete. The register is a useful source of information.”

In a statement, the county council said it had passed papers to Lincolnshire Police following a complaint. Lincolnshire Police said that it was investigating “alleged serious criminal offences” involving practices and procedures, and that a file would be prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service.

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