GWYNEDD Council has come under fire for hiring a company to check if residents in the county are paying enough council tax and refusing to say how much the process is costing the taxpayer.

At present, almost 18,000 Gwynedd households are in receipt of a 25 per cent council tax discount, which is awarded when there is only one adult living at a property.

In order to ensure no-one is wrongly claiming this reduction, cash-strapped Gwynedd Council has employed the services of Nottingham-based Datatank, which will conduct a review into every household receiving a discount.

Council chiefs refuse to say how much this service will cost, but a similar scheme with Datatank by Neath Port Talbot Borough Council, cost the public authority £14,500.

Dolgellau town councillor John Raghoobar told the Cambrian News he was aghast at the council tactics.

“The public should told how much this is costing. Where’s the democracy?”

Outspoken Gwynedd councillor Louise Hughes was also furious with the county council.

She said: “Why is Gwynedd Council employing the services of an outside company to conduct what is, to my mind, ‘big brother’ style’ snooping on households in Gwynedd?

“They refuse to reveal the financial cost to the taxpayer of this review of single adult households as they claim it is ‘commercially sensitive’, but this is public money they are spending and as such the information should be readily available.

“This latest scheme smacks of underhand tactics to inflict more misery on residents already barely able to make ends meet.”

Council officers say that the review will confirm whether discounts being given are being genuinely claimed or not.

Where incorrect claims are identified, the council will end the discount and seek to reclaim the savings received.

Read the full story in this week’s north editions of the Cambrian News