Council writes off "bitter pill" of £30,000

The funds relate to a fraudulent claim made to Rother District Council from 1990 to 1997, and a local business that went into liquidation without paying its rates.

Successful legal action over the fraudulent claim of 19,442 led to a County Court judgement in favour of Rother District Council (RDC), but the claimants' total lack of assets left councillors with no choice but to dismiss the debt during a Cabinet meeting on Monday.

Councillor Robin Patten said: "There's no point crying over spilt milk.

"We are not going to get it back, but it does pose a question about making our current guidelines a hell of a lot stricter."

The 8,824 of business debts owed are met from the National Non-Domestic Rate pool and have no direct impact on Rother.

Robin Vennard, Rother District Council's head of finance, said: "It's been around a long time. It's time to write it out, but keep it in our minds,"

Cllr Tony Ganly said: "20,000 is a bitter pill for the Rother tax payer to swallow."

Should Rother tighten up its guidelines? Do you agree with their decision to write the debt off? Leave your comments below.