Councillors in Council Tax Arrears: Information Commissioner Places Two Somerset District Councils Under Investigation

The Leveller October 2021

Above is "The Leveller" October 2021. They are reporting on our work to expose Somerset's councils and councillors, and to stand up for the vast majority residents who do pay their council tax and expect councillors to set the example.

Following action by Somerset Independents, some of Somerset's 250+ district councillors have been found to have not paid their council tax over extended periods of time, with some over years.

So why did we start this investigation?

When our officers discovered from the February 2021 Full Council Meeting that Green Mendip Councillor Francis Hayden was banned from voting on council tax due to non-payment of council tax for more than 10 months, we asked all four district councils and the County Council, about councillors who did not pay.

We sent a formal complaint to Mendip about Cllr Hayden. Mendip did not properly investigate the councillor, of whom we provided evidence that Hayden had committed one or more criminal offences in voting on council tax-related matters at the February 2021 budget meeting - despite being barred. 

Mendip District Council do not seem to investigate councillors, we have found. Instead, they cover up for them and this is another case.

We have placed some of the evidence of non-payment of councillors across Somerset, and our actions, on other articles on this website. You can obtain the articles at the link here and click the tag "Council Tax" at the top of the website. Just scroll down to see all articles.

There was a difference in response from the four councils. Two councils gave the information, whereas two other councils sought to cover up the facts. The County just passed the buck to the districts and asked that councillors confess if they were in arrears.

Sedgemoor confirmed that no councillors had been in arrears. SWT Council confirmed the details of councillors in arrears and we challenged them directly, leading to one councillor Paul Bolton paying up in full. Another, former Conservative and now "independent" Cllr Kelly Durdan, failing to provide answers to us when we challenged her.

Two councils - Mendip and South Somerset - have covered up the names and/or further details of the arrears by councillors. We challenged them. South Somerset legal officer said the names would be revealed, but nothing came of it, despite our chasing.

So we have taken those FoI requests to the Information Commissioner's Office.

The ICO has told us in both cases that:

"Your complaint has been accepted as eligible for further consideration and will be allocated to a case officer as soon as possible."

And we went to the local and national media.

Both Private Eye and The Leveller have reported on our work. In The Leveller article, Leader of Somerset Independents Andrew Pope, who led the investigation, says:

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."

 

We will continue our investigation and continue working with local media to expose Somerset's rogue councillors and MPs.