Revealed - the councillors who had to be forced to pay their council tax

The four Cornwall councillors who were so behind with their council tax that they had to be chased through the courts have been identified. They are Chris Pascoe, Jan Powell, Alex Folkes and Sasha Gillard-Loft.


All four councillors are Liberal Democrats, although at the time of her liability order Mrs Powell was a Conservative.

Chris Pascoe was the subject of a liability order at Truro magistrates in July 2011 for more than £1,800. Chris said the debt relates to a property owned by his recently deceased father, which was the subject of probate at the time.

Sasha Gillard-Loft's £210 liability order was issued by Bodmin magistrates on 23rd March 2010. She claims financial hardship.

Only a few weeks earlier, on 16th February, Sasha was one of 35 named councillors to vote against the proposed council budget. As liability orders usually follow three months of demand, reminder and final warning, the council this week had to check if there had been any breach of the 1992 Local Government Finance Act, which disqualifies councillors from voting on a budget if they are more than two months in arrears. Sasha was in arrears on the day of the budget vote, but by only one month and 16 days. She therefore escapes the risk of a fine of up to £1,000.

Alex Folkes, who two weeks ago admitted two liability orders, is now identified as having been the subject of a third. Alex said the third council tax summons "slipped his mind" and he apologised if in an interview on 17th January he had inadvertantly given a false impression. The council had to take him to court on 22nd April 2010, 23rd September 2010 and 12th July 2011.

Jan Powell's husband, Tony, says he was responsible for the liability order issued jointly against them on 25th August 2010. Tony, who last year was Mayor of Liskeard, says Jan had no knowledge of their £833.85 summons. He claims he offered a repayment-by-installments scheme to the council which, he says, should have prevented the liability order.

The disclosures, which come as a result of a joint investigation by BBC Radio Cornwall and the Falmouth Packet newspaper, mean that 10% of Cornwall Council's Liberal Democrat group had to be taken to court before paying their council tax between 2009 and 2011.

The revelations were made possible by trawling through public documents in magistrates' court records This increases pressure on the Information Commission to rule against Cornwall Council - which has stubbornly refused to identify the councillors, claiming that to do so would breach data protection laws.

The disclosures also make it clear that Porthleven councillor Andrew Wallis, who "outed" himself last year as having been the subject of a council tax liability order, was actually confessing to a non-payment which pre-dated the 2009-11 financial year accounting period.

There will be more on this - much more - on BBC Radio Cornwall's Breakfast programme on Wednesday morning.

Nearly there...

As the Information Commission continues to ponder (more than five months now) whether Cornwall Council should name those of its members who failed to pay their council tax on time, I detect signs of rising excitement at County Hall. Resigned to their fate, some councillors are now demanding to know who are StAustellAdam and Zella?

Nailing jelly to the wall

Mudhook has an interesting analysis of how Cornwall's Lords voted on the government's Welfare Reform Bill. The position of Cornwall's Liberal Democrat peers is fascinating - sometimes for, sometimes against, sometimes against each other. Good luck to anyone trying to spot a party policy.

The parkers' lot

Full marks for enthusiasm to the traffic warden(s) who patrol Lemon Street in Truro....a Freedom of Information answer reveals the issue of 861 tickets there during 2011. The vast majority were issued to motorists parking in places reserved for local residents.

George Orwell would love this

Here is Cornwall Council's statement about today's ban on using Twitter in council meetings:

Cornwall Council has not banned the use of social media such as Twitter from its meetings. The Council is fully committed to openness, transparency and engagement including via social media platforms such as Twitter. In the case of today's meeting, the Leader was very concerned about the inappropriate nature of some of the tweets posted by Members and their potential impact on the reputation of the Council. He expressed these views during the meeting and instructed Members to refrain from making these inappropriate comments. Today's meeting of the Cabinet, as with all meetings of the full council, the Cabinet and strategic planning was webcast, not only on the Council's website, but also via local broadcast media. This demonstrates our ongoing commitment to making our meetings more open and transparent.

So a ban is not a ban, except when the council leader says it is. I think I've got it....

Don't worry, Ma'am, it'll be all right on the day...

Inquiries suggest that the total number of applications so far for street parties in Cornwall to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is........zero.

How many twits does it take to ban Twitter?

The new "protocols" designed to make Cornwall Council meetings more open and transparent appear to have resulted in a ban on elected councillors sending Tweets from today's Cabinet. You can Tweet from court, you can Tweet from the chamber of the House of Commons, but you can't Tweet from a council meeting? There are serious problems with the new rules, which I think broadcasting organisations will probably seek to raise formally with the council. The fact that they can be interpreted in such an illiberal manner, turning the clock back more than a year, serves to make the point.