A CHESTER city councillor has denied launching a tirade against archaeologists working at the Chester amphitheatre dig.

An official complaint has been lodged against city Cllr Michael Poole (Con, Curzon & Westminster) by English Heritage archaeologist Tony Wilmott who is working in conjunction with the city council team.

It is alleged Cllr Poole was shouting through the fence claiming the project was a waste of money. The incident on the afternoon of Friday September 2 took place in front of volunteers and also Mike Morris, head of the Chester Archaeology Service.

But Cllr Poole has strongly denied the accusations and believes he is being targeted because as head of a city council committee he challenged the amphitheatre budget figures.

He said: 'I got chatting with one of the guys through the fence and was asking how it was going. At the end of the conversation I said I was a councillor on the council and I think he was a little bit uncomfortable . He thought I was a tourist.'

Cllr Poole claims: 'no-one said anything to me' and was surprised to hear a complaint had been lodged. He was alleged to have claimed the amphitheatre was a waste of money during the incident and denied this was his position. 'It's attracted a lot of tourists,' he said.

Cllr Poole said as chairman of the corporate and district services committee he had queried the budget figures for the amphitheatre project.

'It was 75% over budget. I asked why through the committee and response was 'That's phasing. It's within budget over the two year cycle'.'

He added: 'Sometimes as councillors we are in the firing line. May be it's as I was asking it to go before the committee and asking whether it was on target.'

Chester City Council spokesman Mike Mc-Givern said: 'We have received a complaint and it is being looked into.'