The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has rebuked one of his senior bishops for his "seriously flawed" actions in revoking the licence of a conservative evangelical clergyman.

Dr Williams has given his backing to a report that recommends the Rev Richard Coekin be given his licence back.

The Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler, revoked Mr Coekin’s licence last November after the Wimbledon minister invited a bishop from a church in South Africa to ordain three curates.

Mr Coekin appealed to Dr Williams and the case was heard by the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, at St Dunstan-in-the-West in London last month.

Bishop Scott-Joynt says in his report that the summary revocation of Mr Coekin’s licence was "inappropriate" and was a "disproportionate outcome in the circumstances of the case."

A spokesman for Dr Williams said that the reason the appeal succeeded was because "the summary procedure followed by the Bishop was technically flawed."

The ordinations of three evangelical curates took place last November in a church in Wimbledon. They were carried out by a bishop from the Church of England in South Africa after Bishop Butler did not at first respond to pleadings to ordain them himself.

Technically, the ordinations were "valid but irregular" because they were done without Bishop Butler’s permission and because Bishop Martin Morrison’s denomination that is not part of the Anglican Communion.

But in spite of arousing Bishop Butler’s wrath, the ordinations had the backing of the powerful conservative grouping, Reform.

The ordinations were in part a protest against Bishop Butler’s support for a statement by the Church’s bishops on the new Civil Partnership law. Clergy have been told by bishops that they cannot inquire into the nature of relationships of gay couples who register their partnerships.

Liberal clergy are also angry about the bishops’ stance because gay clergy who register their partnerships will be asked to give assurances that their relationships are celibate.

Bishops are understood to be discussing these guidelines and whether they need revision at their meeting this week in the run-up to the General Synod in York next month.

Dundonald church is typical of a new breed of Anglican church. With tenuous connections to the Southwark diocese, it maintains an essentially Anglican ethos but is established as a separate charitable trust and operates outside the Church’s parochial structure. It meets in a number of locations throughout London, including the unconsecrated Dundonald school, and pays no "parish share" or quota to Southwark.

Dr Williams said: "My hope and expectation for the diocese of Southwark and for the ministry of Dundonald church and its minister, the Revd Richard Coekin, is that they will now all be able to draw a line under the episode examined so thoroughly in the bishop’s report, and commit themselves to renewed collaboration in the mission of Christ in the months and years ahead."

Bishop Butler said last night that the report emphasised that if Mr Coekin is to exercise licensed ministry in the Church of England he must "conform to the discipline of the Church" and "must submit to the Bishop of Southwark’s episcopal authority."

He also noted that Mr Coekin’s conduct in arranging an illegal ordination was deemed to have "merited censure".