Arrears Of The Year: Somerset's Rogue Councillors Who Didn't Pay Their Council Tax

 

The Rogue Councils Were All Lib Dem-Run or Tory-Run

Somerset Independents stands up for residents. 

We have investigated all 250+ district and county councillors, to find those who persistently did not pay their council tax.

By "persistently", we mean councillors who were two months or more in arrears. 

Their names? Bloomfield, Clarke, Durdan, Hayden, Hodgson, Osborne, Pailthorpe. 

The councils they are on? Mendip District, Somerset County, South Somerset District, Somerset West and Taunton District.

Read on to find out more.

It is AGAINST THE LAW and a CRIMINAL OFFENCE to vote on council tax-related matters when a councillor is persistently in arrears.

Green, Lib Dem, Tory and Fake Independent Councillors
Did Not Pay Their Council Tax

As we have made clear on many occasions, we have not pursued private individuals on their arrears in paying up. In fact, we have spoken up for hard-pressed residents when councillors have increased council tax without a Referendum. 

But councillors are not private individuals. They hold public and elected office, funded by the taxpayer. They are there to represent you. But we have found too many who have brought the office of councillor into disrepute.

Councillors increased your council tax during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

As described on this website, our officers turned up and spoke at ALL four district council budget meetings and the County Council budget meeting in February 2021, PLUS the Police and Crime Panel. We asked councillors to NOT put your council tax up.

But councillors at all councils did put YOUR COUNCIL TAX up.

So have all councillors been paying THEIR council tax? No, they have not.

We have documented the responses from the district councils and county council on this website, to our questions.

Councils attempted to cover up the wrongdoing of their councillors.

Some councils gave us the information without a problem - Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, and Somerset County Council. They did what they were supposed to do - answer our questions under the Freedom of Information Act.

But two councils obstructed our enquiries and have not answered our questions.  Mendip District Council and South Somerset District Council have broken the law on Freedom of Information and in other legal respects.

Private Eye and The Leveller have helped us to report on those councils and the councillors that the councils have tried to protect.

Speaking to The Leveller for their lead article in the October edition of the newspaper, Andrew Pope, Leader of Somerset Independents said:

Andrew Pope

 

"Somerset Independents is a campaign group formed to stand up for residents.

When we discovered that councillors had not paid their council tax, we were incensed. So as volunteers, we investigated the councillors of all districts and the County council.

We asked councillors directly at their February Budget meetings to not increase council tax during the Pandemic. But they did. Yet some councillors did not pay themselves - some of them did not pay over many months and even years. They hold public office but have brought it into disrepute.

Residents told us that these councillors should resign. We agree."

Andrew adds: 

"Now we have forced the councils to expose their rogue councillors, it is in the public interest that we publish the list of councillors who were persistently in arrears.

We have offered the Right of Reply to our questions to all of these councillors.

Too many of these councillors ignored our offer and those who did respond did not answer our questions fully and frankly. Some of them lied. Some of them were obnoxious. All of them were persistently in arrears, some of them over years.

They should all go, and go now. We will be publishing more details about them and the lengths their councils have gone to, in order to prevent the public knowing about their wrongdoing."

 

Arrears Of The Year... Or Rogues Gallery?

In alphabetical order of surname, the councillors who were persistently not paying their council tax are as follows. Click the links for their contact details if you want to ask them why they did not pay. 

Lib Dem, Green or Tory, Same Old Story

 

 

Councillor Neil Bloomfield (South Somerset District Council and Somerset County Council)

Councillor Neil Bloomfield

Independent (resigned from the Conservatives) Councillor for Martock Ward and Martock Division on Somerset County Council.

We offered him a right of Reply. His response was bizarre and unrepentant.

Councillor Bloomfield told us, while not answering our questions on his arrears:

"I’ve been in private eye twice now but first time for this...Yes was behind, now I’m ahead (I hope) and no I won’t be resigning."

Councillor Paul Bolton (Somerset West and Taunton Council)

Councillor Paul Bolton

Independent Councillor for Alcombe.

The Mayor of Minehead told us that he had paid up, following our investigation. He did not initially reply to our correspondence, so we used other ways of contacting him. When we did speak to him - he rang us - he did give some answers but he also claimed that we had not contacted him before - a false claim. More in our report here. The Leveller has reported on him in their October issue.

Councillor Louise Clarke (South Somerset District Council) 

Councillor Louise Clarke

Liberal Democrats Councillor for Martock Ward.

We offered her a Right of Reply. She did not respond. We have extended the time offered for a response.

 

Councillor Kelly Durdan (Somerset West and Taunton Council)

Councillor Kelly Durdan

Independent (former Conservative candidate) Councillor for Creech St. Michael.

We offered her a Right of Reply. She did not respond. We phoned her. She was obnoxious, did not answer our questions, and hung up, without providing any explanation. The Leveller has reported on her in their October issue.

 

Councillor Francis Hayden (Mendip District Council)

Councillor Francis Hayden

Green Party Councillor for Cranmore, Doulting and Nunney.

We offered him a Right of Reply. He did not respond with answers, and was obnoxious in his response. He even bragged about it in public, claiming that he prioritised his wife's business first. He refused to resign. The Leveller has reported on him in their October issue, citing our evidence that he committed criminal offences in voting on council tax-related matters. Mendip District Council has told Somerset Independents, and The Leveller, that they would change the way they worked on the issue of council tax.

Councillor Ben Hodgson (South Somerset District Council)

Councillor Ben Hodgson

Liberal Democrats Councillor for Crewkerne.

We offered him a Right of Reply. He did not respond. We have extended the time offered for a response.

 

Councillor Sue Osborne (South Somerset District Council)

Councillor Sue Osborne

Conservative Party Councillor for Windwhistle.

We offered her a Right of Reply. She did not respond. We have extended the time offered for a response.

 

Councillor Robin Pailthorpe (South Somerset District Council)

Councillor Robin Pailthorpe

 

Liberal Democrats Councillor for Crewkerne.

We offered him a Right of Reply. He did not respond. We have extended the time offered for a response.

 

UPDATE: We have also investigated North Somerset Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council and Bristol City Council. More information on all eight of our investigations is on this article here.

 

What Happens Next?

Hopefully these councillors will search their conscience and speak to the their constituents to see what they think, and whether residents think that they should resign as a councillor. 

Are any of the above councillors your councillor? Get in touch with us to tell us what you think. We have asked a lot of residents what they think about these councillors - in a democracy, residents' views are the views that really matter. 

No resident has told us that they think it is OK. In fact, many of them told us that these councillors should resign. We agree.

We will be publishing more details on each councillor's arrears and how they reacted to our investigation.

You may have noticed that they are all councillors at district councils run by the Liberal Democrats or the County Council that is run by the Conservatives. All of them except one is a Liberal Democrat or Tory. 

Only one of them was elected as an Independent (Bolton) but he is nothing to do with Somerset Independents, and if he was, we would have expelled him from our Party following due investigation.

We will expose councillors' wrongdoing, whether they are of the national political parties or of no party.

Our investigations are continuing, and we have involved the Information Commissioner's Office, as documented elsewhere on this website.

Standing Up For Residents and Taxpayers