Council’s blank response

Nov 14 2007 by Larry Neild, Liverpool Daily Post

WHEN campaigner Katherine Byrne wanted to build up a case to save green space near home, she thought the Freedom of Information Act might be the answer...

But, as she eagerly opened Liverpool City Council’s response to her request, her hopes of getting help turned to utter disbelief.

Because all nine pages of the report they sent were completely blanked out.

In fact, as Ms Byrne turned the pages, all headed Private and Confidential, it was only when she got to the last that she found anything resembling a complete sentence.

There were just two lines... ‘‘Planning issues in developing on”, and then: “As the land is designated”.

The reports were needed by Ms Byrne to build up a case against council proposals to build a new high school on playing fields close to the Peter Lloyd Leisure Centre in Tuebrook.

Yesterday, clutching the blanked out pages, she went to a meeting of the council’s planning committee, held to decide whether approval should be given for a new West Derby school on the Millbank site.

Despite strong opposition from local people, as well as the neighbouring Liverpool Community College, the committee gave outline permission.

Chairman Cllr Dave Irving said car parking problems and alternative football pitches to replace those being lost would be dealt with when detailed plans were produced.

Afterwards Ms Byrne said: “Our contention has always been that there are alternatives to taking away vital green spaces, so I wanted to know what optional sites had been studied and why they had been rejected.

“We put in a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act and expected to get some response. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the report. It told us nothing, so we have lodged a complaint with the information office.”

Liberal leader Cllr Steve Radford said: “If this is Liverpool City Council’s idea of its responsibilities under Freedom of Information then it is a farce.”

Earlier this year the Information Commissioner said council policies and procedures for dealing with Freedom of Information matters did not conform to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs’ code.

Last night a city council spokesman said: “The purpose of issuing the response was to show that the particular report request did exist. But as it contained sensitive and commercially sensitive information, it was regarded as exempt. We did issue a later report which did give a little more information.

“The original report looked at sites for schools as part of our Building Schools of the Future programme. At that stage schools had not been informed and some of the sites were commercially sensitive. We had no choice but to withhold details at that time.”

larryneild

How the Freedom of Information Act works

TONY BLAIR pledged to introduce a Freedom of Information Act when he became Prime Minister in 1997, but it wasn’t until January 1, 2005, that the Act came into force.

It officially set up a right of access to information for the public and established a matching duty on the part of public authorities. That duty has two stages: first, to confirm or deny that information is held, and second, to communicate information in its control.

The range of organisations caught by the legislation is vast – not only central and local government, but also schools, the police, and parish councils.

As well as private individuals, it is used by media organisations, including the Liverpool Daily Post, to obtain information on behalf of the public.