INDEPENDENT Councillor Neil Johnson has referred Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council, of which he is an elected member, to the Office of the Information Commissioner for what he describes as “serious issues of non-compliance”.
Cllr. Johnson submitted a formal Freedom of Information request to the Parish Council over their decision to hire private security at their recent meetings. Cllr Johnson sought the cost of hiring the security guards, details of when the decision was made, and the name of the Parish Councillor who liaised with the firm. Cllr Johnson says that he has never been involved, or even consulted, on the decision to hire private security and repeated attempts to obtain the costs have gone unanswered.
Cllr. Johnson said: “After multiple attempts to ascertain the cost to the public of the Parish Council hiring private security, I submitted a formal Freedom of Information request.
“This has also gone unanswered.
“The Parish Council are now outside of the statutory timescale public bodies are afforded to reply to such requests.
“I have received no acknowledgement of my email, no request for an extension, and crucially no information.
“It is staggering to me that an elected representative is being denied information regarding costs. All elected officials have legal responsibilities in respect of the precept and how that money is spent. The Labour and Conservative Parish Councillors seem to have forgotten that, and have instead adopted an aura of secrecy.
“I have now reported the Parish Council to the Office of the Information Commissioner. Failure to respond to Freedom of Information requests is against the law. Some Parish Councillors might be blasé about this and think they can just ignore me, but they will soon discover that they could find themselves personally liable for any fines levied by the ICO.
“I have asked that Parish Councillors be held personally accountable during the ICO’s investigation. Any fines should come from their pockets, not the public purse.”
Culcheth & Glazebury Parish Council was approached for comment.
An automated response was received on Thursday morning stating:”Thank you for contacting Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council.
“We are currently experiencing a higher than usual volume of correspondence and as we are temporarily without a Parish Clerk, responses to enquiries may take longer than usual.
“We appreciate your patience and understanding at this time.”
1 Comment
The ICO cannot fine a public authority simply for failing to respond to a request on time.