Two councillors owe more than £6,000 in council tax arrears
Plus: Thoughts on the assisted dying bill
Christmas has crept up on us. Radio stations were sneakily playing festive songs last week before open season on Christmas tracks both good and bad truly begins in earnest. It is now December, after all.
At the very least it gives me the opportunity to indulge in one of my most favourite of stupid and childish jokes by asking people if they put their tree up themselves. The correct response is of course, “No, in the living room”.
Welcome to the twelfth edition of The Teesside Lead, and while it wasn’t quite a classic Winter wonderland in a grey car park, Middlesbrough’s Christmas lights switch-on got off to a bit of a sticky start (more of which later).
For paid subscribers this week there’s an editorial about the assisted dying bill which got to the next stage in Parliament on Friday. I spoke to a terminally ill man from North Yorkshire hours after the vote who shared his relief with me.
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And on the subject of investigative journalism, here’s the latest in our ongoing investigation into councillors with unpaid council tax bills…
Two members of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council are in council tax arrears of more than £6,000, The Teesside Lead can reveal.
After establishing that two councillors were in council tax arrears, a new Freedom of Information (FOI) request by The Teesside Lead in an ongoing investigation has shown the two councillors owe a total of £6,443.57 to the council they represent.
The councillors’ identities are being kept secret by the council, despite an established legal principal that they should be named, because of the “exceptional personal circumstances involved in this case.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office, the watchdog responsible, supports the council’s decision to keep the councillors’ identities hidden.
According to the latest FOI request, one councillor owes a total of £2,505.35, with an initial balance due from 7 December 2022. The other councillor owes £3,938.22 and first went into arrears on 1 April 2022.
Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 says that councillors in council tax arrears of two months or more must declare it at a meeting where the authority’s budget is being discussed, and are not permitted to vote on it. To do so would be a criminal offence which could lead to a conviction and a fine of up to £1,000.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council voted to raise council tax in February this year. It’s my understanding that the councillors who are in arrears were advised not to attend this meeting by council officers.
A spokesperson for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council told The Teesside Lead: “The Council administers council tax in accordance with legislation which requires the issuing of demand notices and obtaining liability orders for debts through the courts.
“These same processes have been followed in relation to the two councillors.
“All council tax payers are made aware of the Council’s Council Tax Support Scheme.”
Meanwhile, Middlesbrough Council has confirmed to The Teesside Lead that none of its councillors are in council tax arrears. I await responses from the other authorities in the Tees Valley.
Teesside stories you may have missed…
🍏 Bob Mortimer was asked by BBC 6Music if he’d had a brat summer
🚂 There are questions over the future of Darlington’s iconic brick train sculpture
🏗️ Plans have been submitted to renovate Marske Square
🎂 An eight-year old boy has raised £800 to help homeless people in Middlesbrough by selling cakes
An unbelievable [Jeff] Christmas tree
As the festive season kicks off, I must spare a thought for Smoggies. The town centre Christmas tree was described by a councillor this week as a “leaning 12 foot bush”.
While the tree itself is OK, it does lack a certain majesty, and the fencing around it really does invoke the absolute worst insanity of Covid lockdowns where benches in parks were cordoned off.
Meanwhile, Thursday night’s Christmas light switch-on in the town had to be hastily re-arranged when booked star Jeff Stelling pulled out on the day due to illness.
Thankfully Melinda Messenger is performing in the town’s panto this year (oh, no she isn’t, etc), and was available to fill the Stelling-shaped void at short notice. Despite Messenger’s credentials, I’m sure devoted Soccer Saturday fans would have been disappointed to not get a chance to glimpse their Hartlepudlian hero.
Man with rare form of cancer gives his reaction to assisted dying bill
“Following failed surgery I was sent home and put on palliative care. I deteriorated quite quickly, and for the last year of that I was very, very unwell. I was fed intravenously, I couldn’t eat or drink anything whatsoever. I was on so much pain relief; I was on patches, I was drinking morphine, I had it put through my leg, I was even on morphine lollies.
“The pain and suffering was still so unbearable at times I just didn’t want to go on.
“Luckily I didn’t give up, I chose to keep on fighting.”
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