UPDATE(18/7/22): VICTORY - ONE YEAR LATER - Information Commissioner Orders South Somerset District Council To Comply

A Council Mired in Controversy

UPDATE (18/7/22)

Yes, we are still battling with South Somerset District Council over information that we requested OVER A YEAR AGO.

Despite the Information Commissioner ruling, they have again tried to wriggle out of giving us the information. They again are trying to cover up for officers and councillors.

SSDC have apologised. They have claimed that they only keep emails for 13 months, but they've committed to going through backups, due to what they claim are "extenuating circumstances".

Somerset Independents will not let them get away with it.

 

UPDATE (20/6/22)

The Data Protection Officer has been in touch with Andrew Pope "to assist in submitting a refined request so that it falls within the cost limit".

We will see if SSDC provide the information that they should have done over a year ago.

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Our investigations into councillors in council tax arrears have now been running since early 2021.

South Somerset District Council's councillors were one council that we investigated. We have been battling with SSDC officers and councillors for over a year.

The lead investigator and Leader of Somerset Independents, Andrew Pope, has now received a Decision Notice from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), after complaining to them in May 2021 when SSDC did not provide the information that he had requested.

The ICO decision text is below.

In it, the ICO have ordered SSDC to comply, to clarify the information requested and the ICO also told SSDC that they were too slow.

But still, despite it being over a year since Andrew complained to the ICO, the investigation drags on.

We await the response of SSDC to the Decision Notice. Andrew says:

Lead Investigator Andrew Pope

 

"We have already been successful in exposing South Somerset councillors who persistently failed to pay their council tax.

Thankfully, none of them will be district councillors in less than a year's time - Bloomfield, Clarke, Hodgson and Pailthorpe will all go.

All except for SSDC Conservative Sue Osborne who was elected to the County Council that will become the New Somerset Council when the County and districts are scrapped.

It is an outrage that Conservative Councillor Nick Colbert referred to Cllr Osborne's arrears as 'trivial' when I contacted him and other Conservative councillors for comment. In typical party-political fashion, Cllr Colbert tried to deflect attention to the other problems at this Lib Dem-run Council, of which there are many. But I was not asking him about those at that time. I was asking him about his Conservative colleague.

We are delighted that our investigations have spurred local residents in Martock, Crewkerne and Chard into action, because they were so outraged at what we discovered for them. You can join us by contacting us and becoming a registered supporter.

This was no thanks to local media outlets who did not report on our investigations - West Country Voices, Somerset County Gazette, SomersetLive (Reach) and BBC Radio Somerset all ignored our success. Perhaps their readers and listeners will ask why they did not see it as in the public interest.

Thankfully The Leveller and Private Eye did report on our work.

But these cuckoo councillors including Osborne are still there at SSDC and are making decisions affecting many South Somerset residents' lives. They are still "on the nest" and cannot be removed by voters because there is no election.

They are cuckoo councillors that should resign, because the majority of residents tell us that councillors who do not pay their council tax for months or even years must go."

The ICO Decision Notice states:

"Decision notice
Date: 13 June 2022
Public Authority: South Somerset District Council
Address: The Council Offices
Brympton Way
Yeovil
Somerset
BA20 2HT
Complainant: Andrew Pope

Decision (including any steps ordered)
1. The complainant submitted a 4 part request regarding South Somerset councillors non-payment of council tax. South Somerset District Council (the Council) refused part 1 of the request as it considered it would exceed the cost limit under section 12(1) of FOIA. It also considered section 40(2) would provide a basis for withholding some of the information at the remaining parts of the request.
2. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has correctly applied section 12 of FOIA to refuse to comply with part one of the request. Because of this, section 12 of FOIA also applies to the rest of the request by default, as if the cost to comply with part one alone exceeds the appropriate limit, then the cost to comply with the request in its entirety will further exceed the appropriate limit. He has therefore not gone on to consider the application of section 40(2). However, the Council has breached section 16 as it failed to provide advice and assistance to the complainant in relation to part one of the request. The Commissioner also finds that the Council has breached section 10(1) of FOIA by failing to provide a valid response to the request within 20 working days.
3. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.

Provide advice and assistance to the complainant to assist them in
submitting a refined request.
4. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court. 

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