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Snortgate: Cllr Neil Rix is still Dover Mayor after being filmed snorting a substance in a toilet cubicle - and the council will not tell us why

You are not being told if Dover’s mayor has been condemned or cleared by a council investigation into his conduct after footage emerged of him snorting a substance in a toilet cubicle.

At the height of the Snortgate scandal in the summer, Cllr Neil Rix said he would refer himself to the official responsible for policing councillor behaviour at Dover District Council.

Three months later both Cllr Rix and Dover Town Council are refusing to reveal the results of the investigation by the monitoring officer.

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Mayor of Dover Cllr Neil Rix
Mayor of Dover Cllr Neil Rix

When asked if the town council would provide a statement on the outcome or whether the mayor would be willing to give an interview, spokesman Pip Clarkson from PR firm Edwards Harvey in Maidstone said: “It is no to both.”

The district council is refusing to confirm if an investigation has even taken place.

The video, which lasts for one minute and seven seconds, was shot before Cllr Rix was appointed mayor but posted on website YouTube at the end of August.

It shows him urging another man in the toilet to close the cubicle door before removing a package from his pocket.

Neil Rix leans over a toilet before snorting a substance
Neil Rix leans over a toilet before snorting a substance

He then appears to lean over the toilet cistern and snort a substance through a bank note.

At the time Cllr Rix said he was the victim of a blackmail plot and police were investigating.

He added: “The video forms part of a police investigation into the fact I am being blackmailed.

“It did not happen recently. I was set up, pushed into it and coerced.

“Someone had put drugs into my beer and I did not know I was being filmed.”

He said that he would not be resigning as ‘it could have been sherbet, Vim or icing sugar.”

He added: “I just feel I have let down my family but I will get over it.

“I have had a lot of support from friends and family, people that know me.”

Asked if he would be resigning, he said: “No, I’m not at all. I’m not standing down.’

Dover mayor Neil Rix in the cubicle
Dover mayor Neil Rix in the cubicle

Cllr Rix, who runs a scaffolding firm, has been an elected member of Dover Town Council for nine years.

He was elected mayor in April this year by a casting vote and said at the time: “I want to bring Dover on a bit and try and make everyone work together and make Dover a better place – that’s the idea of it all.”

Cllr Rix runs the NT Rix scaffolding company and represents Buckland ward, the area he was born in.

He has also formed the company Dover Demolition which carried out the demolition of the town’s high rise Burlington House building in February.

Dover Town Council’s website says the position of mayor is “respected and held in high regard by the community because of its service to the community and the dignified behaviour of successive mayors and deputy mayors”.

Dover mayor Neil Rix caught on camera
Dover mayor Neil Rix caught on camera

It adds: “A mayor, by virtue of the office, can use their position to stimulate community pride, encourage business, promote the voluntary sector and mould social cohesion.

“The mayoralty can also be a front line focus for the expression of community concerns.”

Watch: The mayor was filmed snorting a substance from the top of a cistern

District council spokesman Andy Steele: “The initial stages of any complaint received by the monitoring officer are confidential to the person making a complaint, the member complained about and any town/parish council which is involved.

“The council does not disclose information about individual cases and the council has neither confirmed nor denied that it has even received a complaint about the Mayor of Dover, even less given anyone cause to believe the monitoring officer would be issuing a report on the matter.”

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