Disputes cost council £121k

ACORNISH town council has spent more than £121,000 of taxpayers’ money on legal and employment disputes, it has been revealed.

Information disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has revealed that Bodmin Town Council spent £34,745.98 on a legal dispute with Bodmin Jail over a newly-built car park in addition to £86,932.04 on employment disputes with former members of staff who left the council. It comes to a total of £121,678.02.

The information was revealed by Boo Consulting, on behalf of the town council, after a near-six month Freedom of Information request battle with former Bodmin town councillor and local resident, Phil Kerridge.

In his Freedom of Information request, available on the ‘What Do They Know’ Freedom of Information database, Mr Kerridge asked Bodmin Town Council the costs incurred so far in the legal dispute with Bodmin Jail in addition to ongoing costs as well as additional costs to the council with regards to the departure of two senior members of staff, including pensions, settlements or other relevant expenditure.

After the initial response was deemed ‘unsatisfactory’, the council was ordered by the Information Commissioner’s Office to conduct an internal review into its handling of his request. It revealed that the town council had spent £34,745.98 in costs so far in its dispute with Bodmin Jail, with the response adding that the council was not able to provide a figure of potential costs for continued legal action. A former Bodmin town councillor has told website Cornwall Live that a figure as high as £51,000 had been previously mentioned to councillors, with a potential £75,000 if the issue was to go to court.

The disclosure also revealed that Bodmin Town Council had spent £86,932 in additional costs on the departure of two long-serving senior members of staff, at least one of whom multiple sources have told Cornwall Live is currently involved in employment tribunal proceedings against the council.

Mr Kerridge said of the revelations: “The council’s taste for conflict has proved very expensive.”

He added: “It is tragic that the careers of two long-serving members of Bodmin Town Council’s staff that I’ve known since I was a councillor in 2003 were ruined through no fault of their own and that’s why I wanted to find out just how much these disputes were costing residents of our town from taxpayers’ money.”

Bodmin Town Council declined to comment on the disclosure.