A councillor who said disabled children "should be put down" has apologised but refused to resign, claiming he "did nothing wrong".

Collin Brewer, an independent councillor in Cornwall, made the remarks to Theresa Court, advice services manager with Disability Cornwall, at an equalities event at County Hall in October 2011. Court made a formal complaint against him that has only recently been resolved.

Brewer has complied with standards board orders to apologise but said he had no intention of resigning. He told the BBC: "Clearly it has gone to the standards board to provide any penalty whatsoever and the penalty they imposed was to write a letter of apology.

"I have no intention of resigning. I don't think I have done anything wrong. I have apologised. I have been a councillor for nearly 26 years. I have always worked to the best of my ability."

Disability Cornwall called for Brewer's resignation. Court said: "I remember him [Brewer] coming over and asking what the stall was about. I was explaining to him about the parent partnership service when he said disabled children should be put down. He said they cost the council too much money.

"I felt physically sick. I was there with parents of disabled children at the time and I just had to turn my back on him. He is supposed to be an elected member representing public views and acting on behalf of the public. How anyone can come out with that is just shocking."

A spokesman for the charity Scope described Brewer's outburst as "outrageous". He said: "Comments such as this have absolutely no place in modern society and should be consigned to the history books.

"To hear such an ill-judged and insensitive statement from a councillor is deeply disturbing and demonstrates that they are clearly not fit for office. Sadly, hostility such as this is not uncommon for many disabled people and it is thoughtless comments like this that make it even harder for them to overcome the multiple barriers they face and live their lives just like everyone else."

Brewer told the BBC: "I said they should be put down. I was just hot under the collar, I suppose, coming from a council meeting where we had been talking about budget cuts and staff cuts. Sometimes people can just catch you on the wrong day.

"It's not a good enough excuse, I will forever be apologising for it. I can't apologise enough. It's not something that's in my nature, I always support disabled charities. I am very sorry."