A Radstock councillor, who was instrumental in voting down a plan for the Avon Pension Fund to divest from the arms industry, works for the Ministry of Defence and represents defence sector workers in the Public and Commercial Services Union.

Campaigners who have been calling for the fund to divest have argued that this is a “serious conflict of interest” for Chris Dando, who is a Labour councillor for Radstock on B&NES Council and member of the Avon Pension Fund committee.

But the head of the Avon Pension Fund has insisted it is not a conflict of interest as the MoD is an acquirer, not a supplier, of defence products and Mr Dando’s role is not related to procurement.

The Avon Pension Fund runs the Local Government Pension Scheme for 140,000 members who work, or worked, for over 450 organisations in the West of England.

The fund has been under pressure to stop investing in the arms industry over warnings that arms firms are complicit in Israel’s breaches of international law in Palestine. But when the Avon Pension Fund Committee met to debate the matter on March 28, it voted 10-3 in principle to continue with its current investment strategy.

Papers which went before the meeting warned that divesting from arms would raise one off transition costs and ongoing fees and would exclude high growth companies which had historically delivered high returns. The papers set out the two options of divesting from arms, or continuing with the current investment strategy.

Mr Dando proposed that the fund follow the second option and not divest. But fund members who have been calling for it to divest from arms said he should have declared his job at the MoD and role as president of the defence sector group at the PCS trade union as an interest.

The campaigners told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “He makes his living from the military as well as being the trade union representative at his place of work. We are therefore extremely concerned about the strength of councillor Chris Dando’s influence on the direction that the Avon Pension Fund Committee has taken.

“Councillor Dando didn’t just take part in the vote — he was the main ‘mover and shaker’ for option two (not to divest). He tabled the motion, he argued for it, and he summed up at the end.”

Nick Dixon, head of Avon Pension Fund, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “There is no conflict of interest for councillor Chris Dando in his role as a pension committee member including in the committee’s recent decision on aerospace and defence.

“Mr. Dando is not an employee of any of the companies in question including BAe Systems. Nor is he a shareholder in any of these companies. There is no financial conflict. His role in the MoD is not procurement related. Mr. Dando is employed by the MoD – the acquirer of defence products – and is not directly linked to suppliers which the issue of conflicts seeks to address.”

Mr Dando was approached for comment.