A company CEO has defended employing a former Cornwall Council cabinet member who was at the centre of a political controversy regarding a role at Spaceport Cornwall, where he is still based.

There has been a call for an investigation into why Corserv, a group of companies owned by Cornwall Council, signed a non-disclosure agreement with Louis Gardner when he resigned after just a week as the spaceport’s head of future air and space last year.It has also been questioned by another former cabinet member why Mr Gardner is still working at the space facility.

The head of Open Skies Network (OSN), which employed Mr Gardner several months ago, has said the former councillor is an asset to the company and the local community, and has stressed that OSN has not received funding or investment from Cornwall Council, Corserv or Cornwall Newquay Airport.

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 even though he had accepted a top job at the council-owned space tech facility at Cornwall Airport Newquay just days before.

Mr Gardner was given the head of future air and space role ahead of other more qualified candidates by Corserv, which runs the airport and spaceport. He 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.

Mr Gardner then resigned from Spaceport Cornwall after just a week due to the controversy. Cornwall Council later withdrew the £200,000 funding for the spaceport.

It was revealed last month that Mr Gardner signed a secret non-disclosure agreement with Corserv when he resigned from his spaceport role.

The ‘confidential settlement agreement’ was verified in a communication sent by Cornwall Council’s monitoring officer Paul Grant, which we have seen.

Cllr Andrew Mitchell, an Independent councillor who is a previous portfolio holder for housing at Cornwall Council, spoke out at a meeting of the full council last month, calling on the local authority to investigate why Mr Gardner was allowed to sign a NDA with one of the council’s own companies.

He has said: “I have raised this point with Cornwall Council that the then Cllr Gardner arranged a job for himself at a Cornwall Council company. He then got sacked quite quickly. [It has always been publicly stated that Mr Gardner resigned.]

“There has then been a pay-off covered by a non-disclosure agreement, which I think is unacceptable.

“Then on top of that he then gets a job at another organisation at the Spaceport site that as far as I know has received funding from Cornwall Council. This cannot be right and must be investigated. This whole issue leaves a bad taste in my mouth and probably in other people’s as well.

“There must be a full and open investigation into how he got the first job and secondly how he got the second job.”

Gareth Whatmore, CEO of Open Skies Network, told us he is not party to the information within the non-disclosure agreement cited by Cllr Mitchell, but added that his company had not received funding from the council as suggested by the councillor.

“In Cornwall we have attracted private investment and national competitive R&D funding to the county and introduced companies and capabilities that have invested in local assets and infrastructure, aiding the revenue generation public sector authorities and local private enterprises.

“Open Skies Network has not received funding/investment from Cornwall Council/Corserv/Cornwall Newquay Airport.”

OSN is an advanced aviation infrastructure and airspace provider based at Spaceport Cornwall, which builds operational frameworks and “sky-highways” for next-generation flight technologies, including delivery drones, autonomous aircraft, electric seaplanes and eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) systems.

It was announced in May that OSN had partnered with Newquay airport to strengthen Cornwall’s position as an emerging global centre for advanced aviation.

As part of the agreement, OSN will gain access to the airport’s newly-installed air traffic control radar, expanding its flight capabilities in the region and potentially supporting NHS medical drone deliveries between mainland Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The airport will also become part of OSN’s network of ‘New Aviation’ sites around the world, supporting the airport’s diversification beyond traditional, commercial-flight revenues and complementing the work of Spaceport Cornwall.

Mr Whatmore told us: “Open Skies Network is a paying tenant at the airport and has been prior to and after Louis’s employment with us.” He added that the company works from and partners with a number of sites in Cornwall, the South West, nationally and internationally.

“I invited Louis to work at our existing office at the airport as well as other locations within our network when his employment commenced. It is normal to have employees to come at work at an office and this did not attract any negative attention from Cornwall Council, Corserv or the airport, whom Open Skies Network has a good relationship with,” he said.

“Louis is a highly valued member of our team and has helped bring inward investment via Open Skies Network to the region. He is an asset for our company and an asset for our community.”

Regarding the ‘confidential settlement agreement’, a Cornwall Council spokesperson said: “Any agreement in place will have been between Mr Gardner and his former employer, not Cornwall Council. As such it would not be appropriate for us to comment.”

Mr Gardner and Corserv have not responded to our requests for comment.