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. 

Why Do We Do This?

Somerset Independents puts residents first. We are volunteers that work with other residents to get better representation and to stand up for residents.

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.

Inspiring Action in Somerset - Become a Registered Supporter

 

One of our Official Emblems

Somerset Independents puts residents first and we stand up for residents.

When we formed Somerset Independents, we were hoping to inspire action by residents across Somerset.

Over two years later, we have inspired and helped residents to:

• hold their elected representatives to account
• defend their lives and their neighbourhoods 
• take action to expose elected representatives that are not upholding standards or representing them
  
• fight to expose wrongdoing by private companies that are harming Somerset's environment
• form new groups of residents
• stand for elected office
• campaign for change
  

Our network of residents across the county has built since early 2020 and is still building. 

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future. 

You can become a Registered Supporter of Somerset Independents, if you apply using the form that we will send you via email. Just email us at the address below to get the form or contact us. 

You will have to make a declaration that you support our aims, are not a member of any other political party and provide contact details. There is no fee currently but we do ask that you donate to help our work as we do have costs to cover for the website, registration with regulators, postage, phones and so on.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.

UPDATED (15/6/22): Leader Apologises, Former Leader Responds - North Somerset Councillors Who Didn't Pay Their Council Tax For Months Or Years

 

One of our Official emblems

UPDATED (15/6/22)

We have had responses from the Leader of the Council, the former Leader of the Council, one of the councillors named in the arrears and the Head of Legal (Monitoring Officer).

Following our previous investigations elsewhere in Somerset, and our successes at persuading councillors to resign from office, pay up on their council tax or discourage them from standing again, our investigations have continued.

Now we have found more Somerset councillors who persistently failed to pay their council tax for several months or even years. They are supposed to be serving residents of North Somerset Council. 

But these three councillors (one Conservative, two "independents") persistently failed to pay their council tax for months or over years, and all of them did not vote on the Budget in February 2022 or on your council tax.

One resident asked us: "How is that even legal?" It's a good question. These councillors think that they can get away with it.

We've asked the three councillors to respond to the information that North Somerset Council has given us. It has to be said, North Somerset Council gave us the information only eventually and with a lot of delays, "misunderstandings", issues or errors along the way.

We had an initial response from the Leader of the Council, Independent Councillor Steve Bridger, when we asked him to make sure that the three named councillors responded:

"I note the information you have provided and that you acquired this via an FOI. What you decide to do with that information and any subsequent action you take is of course entirely up to you." 

Unfortunately the response from Councillor Bridger was not satisfactory, as we asked other questions that were not answered. So we followed up. 

Councillor Steve Bridger
(Independent, Yatton)
Leader of the Council

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bridger, has today apologised to the Leader of Somerset Independents, Andrew Pope, in a lengthy letter about how the Council dealt with the Freedom of Information requests.

Somerset Independents has also today received a response to our questions from the former Leader of the Council, Councillor Don Davies, who resigned suddenly last month, just before the Annual Full Council. He has denied being in arrears with his council tax. Councillor Davies told us:

Councillor Don Davies
(Independent, Pill)

 

"my council tax is not and has not been in arrears."

Councillor Davies did not attend the Budget meeting in February 2022, telling us that he was "on leave". So as with other councillors, he did not vote on your council tax or on how your money will be spent.

Doesn't Somerset Independents Only Cover the County and Districts?

No, we cover the whole of the traditional County of Somerset.

North Somerset Council is a unitary authority. But it also has lower-tier (e.g. town and parish) councils within its boundaries. It can be true that where there is a unitary authority, there is only one tier of local government. But there can also be two tiers. 

To give two examples, Weston-super-Mare and Portishead both have town councils. And they also have councillors on the North Somerset Council, which is a unitary.

Why do we mention this? 

Because of the way the unitary authority was forced upon most of the traditional County of Somerset by the Boris Johnson Government and "Local Conservative" councillors on the County Council. It was marketed by defeated Tory County Council Leader David Fothergill as "One" Council and accompanied by many untruths and false claims. But it is much more complicated than that, as we have explained elsewhere on this website.

And we also mention the two tiers because it is relevant to the councillors who persistently failed to pay their council tax for months or even over years. They may also be town or parish councillors.

 

Where Can We Read More?

Local media are interested in running this story. And we have twice offered the right of reply to councillors - only one has responded so far.

So we will not be naming the councillors yet, or the details. But it will be happening soon - either via local media or via our website - or possibly both.

Who Are Somerset Independents?

Somerset Independents puts residents first.

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.