Southwark Council spent nearly £15,000 on an investigation into former council housing boss Leo Pollak, the News can reveal.
The council commissioned a report by law firm Bevan Brittan into whether Cllr Pollak broke its own code of conduct after he was found to have been operating an anonymous Twitter account that was trolling people opposed to the council’s housing plans.
Bevan Brittan found that Cllr Pollak had broken the code of conduct by acting anonymously, although not through the content of his tweets.
A Freedom of Information request by a local residents’ association and shared with the News has revealed that the council spent £14,614.80 on fees for external firms that worked on this investigation. It is unclear if other companies were involved, or if all of this money went on the report, the contents of which were exclusively revealed by this paper in December last year.
Cllr Pollak stepped down from his role as head of council housing and apologised for his actions after he was outed by a newspaper in February 2021, although he remained in post as a councillor for the South Bermondsey ward. He is standing again in the local elections in May.
He was also given a £4,881.10 payment for leaving his job in April last year – despite the embarrassing way he resigned from his job – meaning the council spent nearly £20,000 on his departure and its aftermath.
Bevan Brittan’s report recommended that the council should not punish Cllr Pollak further, arguing that he had suffered enough. They also recommended that no disciplinary hearing take place, adding that “this would not be in the public interest nor a beneficial use of Council resources.”
The dispute that Cllr Pollak took part in concerned the council’s controversial ‘infill’ programme of housebuilding on existing estates. Operating under the anonymous @SouthwarkYIMBY Twitter account, Cllr Pollak argued with activists Robert Hutchinson and Lewis Schaffer online.
He sent dozens of tweets through @SouthwarkYIMBY, including one where he accused a campaigner of being “a serial blusterer” and another where he denounced Mr Hutchinson for displaying “pathetic nimbyism”.
Cllr Pollak has since apologised to both Mr Hutchinson and Mr Schaffer.
A spokesperson for Southwark Council said they were unable to comment because of publicity rules during the pre-election period.