After initially refusing, Bolton Council has finally revealed the councillor who failed to pay his council tax.

Cllr Mudasir Dean has been named as the councillor behind on his council tax bill by £364.32 in July 2023. The council confirmed the Conservative councillor for Bradshaw is now up to date on payments.

Cllr Dean put the late payments down to health issues he faced as well as a significant loss of income.

Cllr Dean said in a statement: “I am sorry that I initially missed council tax payments and I can confirm that as of January 2024 my council tax for 2023/2024 is fully paid up.

The Bolton News: Coun Mudasir Dean, Conservative councillor for Bradshaw, Bolton. Uploaded by George Lythgoe. Credit: Bolton Council. Free to use for all LDRS partners

“I did have some issues earlier last year as I encountered a significant loss of income. I suffered from multiple health problems that flared up from time to time. Thankfully I have now recovered.

“Many people in our town and country fall on hard times and elected members are just like the people they represent. To ensure that this does not happen again I am setting up a direct debit scheme for the next council tax period.”

Cllr Dean was one of two councillors who were identified as not paying up for council tax back in 2014 following a lengthy legal battle between the council and The Bolton News. 

The local paper had originally put in a Freedom of Information request (FOI) in 2012 asking the council to reveal members who had been summoned to court for not paying council tax. The council refused to name the councillors back then as well.

In this most recent case it has taken almost eight months for the councillor to be named after Bolton Council refused to give his name following an FOI request response back in July 2023. After a request for an internal review went unheard, the Local Democracy Reporting Service referred the case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).  

In their ruling, the ICO said the council is not entitled to rely on section 40(2) (personal information) of the FOIA to refuse to provide the withheld information. 

Following the commissioners’ ruling, the council issued a letter to the LDRS apologising for the delay in responding to the request for an internal review and revealed Coun Musadir Dean as the councillor in question.

A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “We are aware of an elected member who had previously fallen behind on their council tax payments, however their account is now up to date.”