Councillor ordered to pay debts owed to council

Barry Elliott was elected in May to represent the Newsham ward in Blyth

A councillor has been ordered to pay almost £40,000 worth of debts to the authority he sits on.

Barry Elliott, a Reform UK councillor, appeared in court in relation to business rates and council tax arrears to Northumberland County Council dating back over the last five years.

Mr Elliott, a property developer who was elected in the Newsham ward in Blyth earlier this year, had applied to Newcastle's Civil & Family Courts to have a statutory demand served against him by the council set aside.

He told the hearing he was not seeking to avoid paying due taxes but alleged some of the organisation's figures were "totally wrong".

His appeal was dismissed, with a judge ruling the total liabilities of £38,499.59 "are payable and they ought to be paid".

Just over £28,500 of the debts relate to business rates, with the remainder of around £10,000 being unpaid council tax.

District judge Terence Phillips also granted the council permission to pursue a bankruptcy petition against Mr Elliott, who has the right to appeal the ruling within 21 days and was told he could also seek to challenge the statutory demand in a magistrates' court.

Mr Elliott was also ordered to pay legal costs of £2,680 to the authority by 9 December, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In his submissions to the court, he argued the council had served its liability order on the wrong address and that he had "never run away" from his responsibilities.

He claimed he receives "unprecedented attention" from the council, alleging it was targeting him for "political" reasons following his election.

Mr Elliott, who told the court he owns about 40 properties, said he had tenants who had "done a runner and left me with thousands and thousands of pounds worth of debt and smashed my houses up".

He accused the council of acting "fraudulently" and of having "failed" in its duty by not collecting the council tax sooner.

Mr Elliott also said the organisation had taken money directly from his councillor's allowance, which the court heard was in relation to a separate liability order.

And he questioned why businesses neighbouring one of his properties were given £30,000 in government grant support during the Covid pandemic when he was not.

He said: "I don't not want to pay the due tax.

"I am not here to try and get rid of those payments. I just don't think they are fair.

"I don't think they have been applied fairly and some of them are totally wrong."

Barrister Fiona Todd, representing the council, disputed all allegations made against the local authority.

She said it was "plainly wrong" that the council had failed to pursue the debts and added none of Mr Elliott's arguments were relevant to the hearing or "supported by any evidence at all".

Barry Elliott refused to answer questions about his businesses when approached by the BBC

Last week the BBC reported building companies owned or run by him have been ordered to pay tens of thousands of pounds to three customers.

County court judgments showed Mr Elliott's building companies had been ordered to pay a combined total of £140,000.

The customers all agreed to buy bungalows but pulled out following major complications, broken promises and delays, they said.

One of his companies - Nashville Homes Ltd - voluntarily entered liquidation in October 2024.

It owed its creditors more than £1m, including approximately £500,000 to Mr Elliott himself, according to documents on Companies House.

The BBC has approached him on a number of occasions, including in person, but he has refused to provide answers.

In a series of emails with the corporation he questioned the accuracy of the claims but did not provide any evidence to support his position.