The pair of lists were submitted to Wangaratta Council on Tuesday night with one from the RSL sub-branch a late item.

The council is expected to decide on a planning application for the Sydney Hotel, which the RSL plans to occupy with 50 poker machines, at its meeting next month.

The RSL last week won approval from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation to lift pokie numbers from 32 to 50 when it shifts from its Victoria Parade base to the hotel.

The club’s petition has 224 names and urges the council to “support the Wangaratta RSL sub-branch’s planning application to relocate to the Sydney Hotel and note that we support the extra gaming machines that the RSL need to finance the project”.

The other petition lodged has 137 backers.

It “requests that elected representatives and council staff engage meaningfully with a wide range of stakeholders before making a decision on the permit”.

Both will now be considered before the matter is decided.

The petitions were raised in the absence of mayor Ken Clarke, who has had legal advice of a conflict of interest because he has been part of the executive of the RSL.

Council chief executive Brendan McGrath defended Cr Clarke’s approach in response to a resident querying how long a conflict may last.

“He has some ongoing obligation to declare an interest in it, as a former member of the executive and part of the group that planned this development,” Mr McGrath said.

“The net is cast pretty wide now in terms of what potential conflicts of interest might look like, much wider than just ‘is there any personal financial gain from it?’.”