A TROWBRIDGE entrepreneur could face jail if he doesn't pay council tax of nearly £7,000.

On Monday magistrates at Chippenham ordered Thomas Rothschild, of Smallbrook House, Staverton, to make monthly payments of £1,000 until the £6,879 debt is repaid.

Rothschild was found guilty of culpable neglect and given a 42-day suspended prison sentence.

The entrepreneur is the developer behind the Stone Mills project near The Shires shopping centre in Trowbridge, the design of which was at the centre of a long-running wrangle with West Wiltshire District Council.

He also owns Pumpkins Tower at Bradley Road, a building that has attracted both praise and criticism for its unique design.

Rothschild has just submitted a planning application to convert the old toilet building at Wicker Hill into an art gallery, after his plan to turn it into an exhibition centre was rejected by the council earlier this year.