A FORMER health authority chairwoman, county councillor and York property developer has been declared bankrupt.

Susan Wrigley, who served for many years as a Conservative county councillor for Tadcaster East and chaired the authority’s social services committee, was judged bankrupt at York County Court last month.

The case followed an earlier hearing at the High Court in Leeds last November, at which she accepted an offer to pay a claimant, Timothy Pope, £135,000 and another £30,000 in costs.

At York County Court on March 11, District Judge Wildsmith ordered she should be judged bankrupt, with the Official Receiver appointed manager and receiver of the bankrupt’s estate.

Deputy Official Receiver Andy Oliver said he had been appointed to administer the bankruptcy but would not be aware of the levels of debt until Mrs Wrigley had attended a meeting to discuss matters.

Mrs Wrigley, who chaired the former North Yorkshire Health Authority in the 1990s and early 2000s, established Wrigley Property Development in 1997 with the aim of building individual homes to the highest of standards. In York, it was responsible for Fulford Chase, created several years ago on the site of the former Gimcrack pub in Fulford Road. All the properties, which were a mix of townhouses, apartments and duplexes with terraces, with prices starting at £237,000, were sold.

The business was involved previously in developments at Rufforth and Appleton Roebuck and, according to its website, its latest development at Main Street, Escrick, is well under way. However, Mrs Wrigley said this was out of date and the development had been completed for more than 12 months.

She said her bankruptcy was not connected in any way to the successful developments at Fulford Chase and Escrick, and Wrigley Property Development was completely unaffected by her personal bankruptcy.

“My bankruptcy is a direct result of the irresponsible behaviour of the banks, the recession and the property market coming to a full stop,” she said.

Inquiries by The Press revealed that four days after being declared bankrupt, an advert for a full-time cook/housekeeper at her country home at Bolton Percy, near Tadcaster, with a £15,000 salary available, was posted in her name on the Careerbuilder website.

Mrs Wrigley said the advert was placed not by her but by her husband, who was a successful lawyer, and it was simply to replace someone who had left the role.