Former Teesside MP summoned to court for Council Tax arrears
Former Teesside MP summoned to court for Council Tax arrears
Plus: A new energy company has been formed at the Teesworks site
The Teesside Lead is back to deliver the latest news from the Tees Valley area twice a week.
I’m Leigh Jones, and I’ll be editing these newsletters and bringing you original stories from across the region.
Before landing at the helm of The Teesside Lead, I briefly worked at The Northern Echo and left to become an investigative reporter for The Yorkshire Post where I covered the Teesworks saga and ended up as something of an expert on the whole thing.
I’ve uncovered a number of goings-on across Teesside, including the creation of an energy distribution company by Ben Houchen’s South Tees Development Corporation, and that full payment of a side deal linked to a controversial “£100” plot of land at the Teesworks site isn’t due until December 2025, as well as reporting from the High Court in London on the outcome of the legal case brought by STDC against neighbouring PD Ports over access rights.
As a journalist I’ve asked questions to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, who told me they would give the National Audit Office the power to investigate Teesworks. I’ve interviewed government ministers, two metro mayors (though not the obvious one), and countless MPs, as well as having written in-depth features about topics as varied as the funding crisis in hospices and covered attempts by entryists to make changes to the National Trust.
The Teesside Lead will see me rounding up news and events across the Tees Valley area, as well as continuing my previous work without fear or favour.
I’ve been blocked by Lord Houchen on social media for years, and a few months ago Jacob Young, who was still an MP and government minister at the time, took to social media during a train journey home from London after reading an article I wrote to which he gladly contributed. He called me “a crank ‘journalist’” and a “left-wing fake journalist”.
When a constituent challenged him, Young concluded: “He’s not a journalist, he is a conspiracy theorist.”
What I’m trying to say is that I have a knack for finding stories which get under the skin of politicians, and with a new government to hold to account I’m absolutely itching to do the same to them.
I’m able to carry on with the bit between my teeth thanks to the generous support of our readers (here comes the sales pitch, sorry!). Paid subscribers to The Teesside Lead directly support independent, in-depth journalism, features and analysis about their local area.
I know you’ve heard it all before, and I’ll spare talented former colleagues who work hard within tough constraints, but we all know the current business model for news is challenged. This is a news service that I hope has a different value to its readers.
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Now, back to getting under the skin of politicians…
Following a months-long Freedom of Information battle, I can now be reveal a former Conservative Member of Parliament received a court summons for non-payment of council tax while they were still an MP.
Listings from Teesside Magistrates Court for January 16 show then-Hartlepool MP Jill Mortimer and her husband, Nicho, were summoned to appear for non-payment of council tax, a levy she had been a vocal advocate for abolishing.
The court confirmed that both cases had been withdrawn on the day they were due to be heard.
When approached the week after her scheduled court appearance, Mrs Mortimer told me her council tax was “fully paid and up to date”.
A spokesperson for Hartlepool Council said at the time: “We are unable to comment on individual cases, however, the Council is not aware of any recent errors relating to court summons for non-payment of council tax.”
Hartlepool Council initially refused when asked in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to reveal the amount Mrs Mortimer was in arrears when it issued the court summons. However, as a result of escalating my FOI to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the watchdog has set a landmark decision and determined a previous example of case law concerning elected councillors should also apply to MPs. In its decision notice the ICO stated: “there is a legitimate interest in knowing when elected officials are in council tax arrears.”
The ICO referenced a 2016 example in which Bolton Council was forced by the Upper Tribunal to reveal the names of elected councillors who had been in council tax arrears.
“Whilst the individual in this case is not specifically responsible for the administration of council tax,” wrote the ICO, “the Commissioner notes that there are a number of media articles referring to the individual concerned being vocal about matters relating to council tax. In addition, MPs are more senior elected officials than councillors.”
The initial FOI request asked how much Mrs Mortimer was in council tax arrears when the summons was issued, as well as to confirm the location of the property which was in arrears, in order to verify the court listing.
In a second landmark decision by the ICO in coming to its decision, it determined the first part of a postcode does not constitute personal data, and could not be withheld by Hartlepool Council.
“Given the number of properties that are attached to the postcode area, in the absence of any further representations from the Council as to how a living individual could be identified through disclosure of that information, the Commissioner has concluded that the first part of the postcode is not personal data,” it wrote.
As a result of the ICO’s intervention, Hartlepool Council has been forced to reveal Mrs Mortimer and her husband were summoned to court after amassing council tax arrears of £3,302.
The annual council tax charge for a Band A property in Hartlepool for 2022/23 was £1462.93.
Hartlepool Council issues a Reminder Notice to residents when an instalment of council tax is missed. If a payment is not made within 7 days of this reminder, a further 7 days are given to pay the overdue balance.
The Council issues a court summons when the full amount is not paid within that time, and an additional administration charge is added to the outstanding cost of the council tax bill.
After being forced to reveal the amount of Mrs Mortimer’s arrears, a spokesperson for Hartlepool Council told me a reminder was sent to her on October 4 last year for £1,516 for 4 instalments, including one due on October 1.
“As this was not paid,” they added, “a summons was raised for the full remaining charge for the year, £3,032, plus £75 costs.”
They said, “full payment of £3,107 was received. No Liability Order was obtained.”
Mrs Mortimer did not respond to a request for comment.
At the time of her 2021 by-election win - the first Conservative victory ever in the constituency - Mrs Mortimer was criticised by opponents for not living in Hartlepool, as she ran a farm and B&B near Thirsk, while also serving as a councillor on Hambleton District Council.
She said she first became aware of the court summons when another journalist approached her with the listing, but was unaware of her husband’s summons until I approached her. She added that she and her husband had no connection to the address on the court listing.
When asked to provide details of her Hartlepool address in order to verify this claim, Mrs Mortimer refused, citing security concerns.
After visiting the address provided by the court in relation to the summons only a week after the scheduled hearing, which was in the Hart Station area of the town, I spoke to a tenant who said they were not renting the property from Mrs Mortimer, and that they didn’t know who she was.
The postcode information provided by Hartlepool Council did not match that of the address provided by Teesside Magistrates Court in relation to the court summons.
Asked in a series of emails earlier this year if she had ever been in arrears with Hartlepool Council, compelled to pay a council tax bill because of a court summons, or paid additional fees on an overdue council tax bill, Mrs Mortimer replied: “This is now becoming very tedious and my team and myself have better things to be focusing on”.
Mrs Mortimer has previously advocated for the abolition of Council Tax, saying it is “a system that works for millionaires rather than the millions”. She compares the average annual rate of Council Tax in Hartlepool at 1.31 percent of a property’s value to that of Westminster where she says the rate is 0.09 percent.
“We should commit to killing off both Council Tax and Stamp Duty,” she wrote in an article for PoliticsHome in 2021.
In its January statement in which it said it was, “not aware of any recent errors relating to court summons for non-payment of council tax,” Hartlepool Council added: “In consultation with Mrs Mortimer, we can confirm that the council tax for her home, which is not the address on the court listing, is up-to-date and paid in full.
“We will not make any further comments on this matter.’’
The Teesside Lead approached Jill Mortimer for comment after the ICO forced Hartlepool Council to reveal her council tax arrears. She did not respond.
Teesside stories you may have missed…
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Meanwhile, you may have seen last week that a new joint venture company has been set up at Teesworks.
Steel River Power Limited has been set up to build and operate a private wire network, providing electricity to tenants at the vast site of the former steelworks. In its announcement, the new company has pledged to spend £100m to achieve this.
Last year, I revealed an energy distribution company had been set up in August 2023 to sell electricity to tenants at Teesworks. Steel River Energy Limited was set up by the public South Tees Development Corporation (STDC) with Teesworks’ private shareholders, Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney.
That company was set up on a 90/10 share-split in favour of the property developers. This happened while a government review into the controversial 90/10 share split of Teesworks Ltd (which lead to accusations of cronyism) was ongoing.
Steel River Energy Limited has created Steel Energy Power Limited as a 50-50 joint venture with North West Electricity Networks Ltd, a holding company belonging to Electricity North West - a successor to NORWEB and the previous state-owned electricity board.
Chris Musgrave, chairman of Teesworks Limited, said: “This is a massive step forward for Teesworks. Upgrading and expanding the private wire network will mean occupiers on the site have access to a safe and reliable electricity network with sufficient capacity to support their operations and growth. It is the backbone utility for Teesworks.
“Getting a new or expanded direct connection to the National Grid can take up to ten years, but tenants on the Teesworks site can obtain a connection to the Steel River Power private wire network immediately, unlocking development in the region.”
It’s not yet clear how the private wire network will be powered. BP told me last year that its gas-powered Net Zero Teesside project will provide all its power to the national grid (ie not for sale via private wire).
However, a proposed energy-from-waste incinerator on the Teesworks site, the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF) may well hold the answers.
It would be the newest of a number of waste incinerators on Teesside. Last week a BBC investigation revealed more than 8% of England’s incinerated waste is burned on Teesside. That’s equivalent to nearly 1,000,000 tonnes a year, with much of it coming from outside the region.
In a very helpful FAQ sheet on its website, TVERF states: “if there is sufficient local demand (for example an energy-intensive facility), electricity can also be exported via private wire direct to the user.”
The TVERF incinerator, which will have an operational capacity to burn 450,000 tonnes of waste a year (making it the 6th biggest incinerator in England, burning roughly 4% of the country’s incinerated waste), is planned to be about 500m from the proposed electric arc furnace at British Steel.
Given the political importance of “bringing steelmaking back to Teesside”, it’s not surprising that all seven councils behind the TVERF scheme re-affirmed their backing for it last week in the wake of renewed criticism of the environmental impact of incinerating waste.
That’s it for the first edition of the re-launched Teesside Lead. If you enjoyed this, and want to support more independent journalism, features and investigations from the area, please consider taking a paid subscription if you’re able to.
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