Zack Polanski cleared over houseboat tax row

BBC

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has been cleared by the Greater London Authority (GLA) following a complaint over his failure to pay council tax on a houseboat in Hackney.

Conservative Assembly Member Neil Garratt submitted a formal grievance against Polanski last month, suggesting he had breached the Nolan Principles and the GLA code of conduct during his time as a London assembly member.

A GLA monitoring officer said on Thursday that "no further action" was needed and the case had been closed.

They said the complaint "relates to the member's personal living arrangements" and "does not have a sufficient connection to his role as an assembly member".

Polanski said the grievances, made by Garratt and Labour MP Anna Turley, were "politically motivated and not made in good faith".

The issue was raised following reports that Polanski was registered to vote at a marina address in east London but was not paying council tax.

In his submission, Garratt wrote: "As a London assembly member, Mr Polanski is responsible for voting to approve or reject the mayor's budget, and in doing so has the capacity to influence and set the level of council tax that Londoners pay via the mayoral precept.

"I therefore believe that any conduct which is found to have fallen short of the required standards would also fall within his capacity as an assembly member, given he would have voted to set a tax level which he himself may not have paid."

Polanski's lawyers said the complaint was "based on assumptions rather than established facts and must be viewed in the wider political context in which they have been made".

Polanski said he believed any charges linked to the mooring, including council tax, were covered by the fees he paid, and insisted there was no intention to evade payment.

Garratt told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Throughout this entire sad saga, Mr Polanski has avoided consequences the same way he avoided council tax: through happy accidents and gaps in legislation.

"It is beyond parody that a left-wing politician who will take to the stage to demand other people pay their share of taxes, has then gone home and not paid his own or endeavoured to find out what tax he owes."

In a statement previously given to the BBC, a Green Party spokesperson said Polanski had "taken steps to pay any council tax he may be found to owe".

They added: "Zack apologises sincerely for the unintentional mistake."

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Local Democracy Reporting Service