Councillor in trouble over rates
ACOUNCILLOR is facing a call to resign after it emerged that he has not paid business rates on a caravan site next to his home since it was established 16 years ago.
Powys county councillor David Price, who is also currently High Sheriff of the county, was last month granted retrospective planning permission for the site at Noyadd Farm, Llanddewi’r Cwm, near Builth Wells.
A report to the council’s planning committee – which Cllr Price chaired until recently and remains a member of – said that invoices from the contractor who built the caravan site dated back to May 2002. Some councillors argued that Cllr Price had defied the planning system over a long period and should not be granted permission for the site retrospectively, but a majority took the view that personalities should not be taken into account and that the application should be approved. Planning officers also reported that because the site was established more than four years ago, enforcement action could not be taken. Cllr Price was granted planning permission by seven votes to three.
Now, however, it has come to light that the site has not been assessed for business rates. A letter from a senior council official to Councillor Elwyn Vaughan, leader of the council’s Plaid Cymru and Green group, stated: “I can confirm that whilst this site hasn’t been valued as yet by the Valuation Office, they are currently looking into the matter.”
A search on the Valuation Office Agency’s online public register shows that while business rates are paid on an adjacent holiday cottage owned by Cllr Price, no payments are made in respect of the caravan site.
Since the beginning of 2018, Cllr Price has reached out-of-court settlements on two well-publicised occasions with Welsh Water in relation to failures to pay water charges.
Cllr Vaughan said: “Everybody else has to pay business rates, and so should Cllr Price. He has already had to reach out-of-court settlements to avoid being prosecuted for non-payment of water charges. I believe he should resign as a councillor.”
Cllr Price declined to comment.