I am astounded to receive information that confirms the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) has disclosed in a Freedom Of Information Act (FOI) response that they have broken the law on a twice-weekly basis for the past year.

Mathew Buckley – EYRC Head of Legal and Democratic Services

An East Riding resident requested details “of the budget spent on defending legal actions in the ERYC area”.

When asked how many cases ERYC had lost over the last 12 months the response was:

“94 claims closed with settlement – total cost £529,544.69 (includes claimant’s damages, claimant’s legal fees and ERYC legal fees)”

That is almost twice a week that ERYC has broken the law by this measure alone. I doubt if less than 1% of residents will engage legal counsel in such situations. As such the 94 could account for up to 10,000 times that ERYC has broken the law in a year. Then there are other measures…

If an East Riding resident broke the law 94 times a year they would be in prison. If an East Riding business broke the law 94 times a year the business would be closed down.

What would happen to the resident or businesses if they broke the law up to 10,000 times and were found guilty for 94 of these?

As an Independent ERYC Ward Councillor between 2016 and 2019, I regularly stated that ERYC was corrupt to the core. This clearly demonstrates my position to have been correct. As confirmed by Transparency International:

“Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain it is wrong… plain wrong!”

It is clear who is benefitting from this abuse of entrusted power.

Will any ERYC Councillors hold ERYC to account for this?

How can Mathew Buckley continue to be employed by East Riding residents? The man has clearly failed.

NB: I have a full copy of the FOI Response.