Last year’s ‘Spaceport scandal’, which caused so much embarrassment for Cornwall Council, has blasted into orbit again with the news that the former councillor at the heart of the issue signed a secret payout agreement with one of the authority’s own companies – after just a week in his controversial job.

The matter was raised during a Cornwall Council discussion this week about transparency of appointments and exit payments of £100,000 and over.

One member suggested that a “confidential settlement agreement” between Corserv / Cornwall Airport Ltd and former councillor Louis Gardner, who was forced to resign after just a week in his Spaceport post, should be investigated by the council.

Mr Gardner, who was the council’s portfolio holder for the economy during the previous Conservative administration, did not declare an interest when approving a £200,000 grant from the council to Spaceport Cornwall despite accepting a top job at the space tech facility at Cornwall Airport Newquay days before.

Mr Gardner, who was given the role ahead of other more qualified candidates, was later found to have breached the local authority’s code of conduct on five points.

He stepped down as cabinet member for the economy on taking the Spaceport job and retired as a councillor on May 1, 2025 – the day of the council election when the Tories lost their majority.

Cornwall Council later withdrew the £200,000 funding and Mr Gardner resigned from Spaceport Cornwall after just a week as the head of future air and space due to the controversy.

In correspondence from Cornwall Council’s monitoring officer Paul Grant, he reveals that a secret agreement was entered into between Mr Gardner and Corserv/Cornwall Airport Ltd (CAL) “as part of the process concerning the termination of his employment with them, in order to achieve a swift exit from the business and protect Corserv/Cornwall Airport from employment tribunal claims”.

Mr Grant added: “A payment was made as part of the agreement, but the details of this payment – as well as the wider settlement agreement entered into on Louis Gardner’s (LG) departure is confidential between LG and Corserv/CAL and subject to standard confidentiality provisions. As such, it is not something that Corserv/Cornwall Airport Limited is able to share more widely or disclose in detail.

“My reading of this is that there is a risk that in sharing details Corserv/CAL could put themselves in a position of breaching the agreement, leading to legal proceedings.”

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Cllr Andrew Mitchell said: “I was absolutely horrified when Mr Gardner let slip [in a complaint against Cllr Mitchell and Cllr Julian German] that he received a non-disclosure agreement with his package after working for about a week in a job that he should never ever have been given.

“It absolutely stuck two fingers up to this council and everything that is decent. To go and get a job that you have worked out for yourself for a company that the council owned.

“I want that investigated. Coming back and saying it was a non-disclosure agreement and was part of the Corserv group I’m afraid is not acceptable. I want to know what went wrong, because it did go wrong. I don’t believe any exit package should have an NDA.

“I really hope this council wants to move forward and shine a spotlight on this dark area of Cornwall Council’s operations.”

Lib Dem council leader Cllr Leigh Frost said there had been a review of how people were employed by the council’s companies and fundamental changes had been made as a result.

On the subject of the council’s arm’s length companies, he added: “Should we have a conversation about how long’s that arm? Absolutely – that’s why we’re developing a commercial strategy. I do think the reality is we have let our group of companies decide how long the arm is and this commercial strategy will actually determine that.”

“Chop the arm off and bring them back in-house,” suggested Cllr Mitchell.

Corserv declined to comment on the “confidential settlement agreement” with Mr Gardner, who has not responded to a request for a comment.