The Dominic Cummings council tax story - a timeline of events

It emerged that the special advisor to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson had stayed at North Lodge, near Durham, when he and his wife had begun suffering Covid symptoms.

Prompting outrage, Mr Cummings was hugely criticised for driving to the farm, instead of staying in London as the Government rules at the time stated.

Since then The Northern Echo has been covering further claims following the fallout of Mr Cummings' alleged breaches of rules.

We've put together a timeline of events, looking back at the Cummings saga over the past several months, which led us to cover one of the most controversial stories yet.

Dominic Cummings' £30k unpaid council tax bill 'written off'

In June, The Northern Echo was made aware that council planners at Durham County Council were looking into allegations that the property where Mr Cummings stayed during his lockdown trip did not have the correct planning permission.

Dominic Cummings: Council investigates planning permission complaints over Durham lockdown 'cottage' - read more 

Mr Cummings had previously told journalists that the "cottage" he stayed in was "sort of concrete blocks", but this would not be enough to stop the questions from continuing to flood on social media and online.

At the time, a spokesperson for Durham County Council confirmed it is investigating after receiving several complaints.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Durham City MP Mary Foy confirmed she had written to Durham County Council to ask the authority to look into the planning matter, and inquire if council tax should be paid.

Cummings' property DID breach planning laws - read more

Just more than a week later, on June 10 we reported that Durham County Council had concluded that there were "historic breaches" of planning and building control regulations at the lockdown family farm.

But Durham County Council said no further action would be taken, although it would pass the findings on to the Valuation Office Agency to see if the family’s extra building is liable for council tax.

This prompted yet more anger as people across the UK called for Mr Cummings to be investigated by the relevant authorities.

Planning report into breaches at Dominic Cummings' cottage - read more

In an Echo exclusive, on July 4 we published the findings from the investigation held by Durham County Council which showed several infringements following three visits to the farm.

We found that enforcement action could simply not be taken because changes were made to the North Lodge cottage too long ago.

We also found that this meant the unauthorised change of use for the building is now immune from action by the planning authority but that it may still be liable for council tax.

Dominic Cummings' £30k unpaid council tax bill 'written off' - read more

After pursuing further lines of enquiry, we yesterday revealed that Dominic Cummings and his family would in fact be liable to pay council tax on a further two properties at their North-East farm, but charges would not be backdated to when they were built.

We found that this meant that years of unpaid taxes, potentially between £30,000 and £50,000, on the two homes built in breach of planning laws would in fact be written off. 

This prompted Durham County Councillor John Shuttleworth to make scathing comments stating there was proof there are "one set of rules" for them and another for everyone else. 

We reported that the outcome, following an investigation by the Valuation Agency Office, would mean the Cummings family would be liable to pay council tax from the beginning of this month.

See more: What Echo readers thoughts on Cummings council tax being written off