Barnet Eye response to Barnet Council war on bloggers

The Barnet Eye has sent the following email to Barnet Council in relation to their response (Detailed here - http://barnetfutureshape.blogspot.com/2011/11/barnet-council-foi-response-reveals.html) which revels details of an attempt to silence a local blogger. This email was copied to the CEO Nick Walkley, Council Leader Richard Cornelius and Deputy Leader Daniel Thomas. A separate response is being prepared by the United Front for Barnet Blogging
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Dear Mr S******r,

 

Thank you for your response.  Please would you be so kind as to do the following.

 

a) Please could you provide an explantion as to why this response was not completed within the statuatory period.

 

b) Please could you raise a new FOI reqest and provide copies of all internal  emails and other communications regarding the complaint to the ICO as detailed in your response.

 

c) Please could you raise a seperate FOI request and provide copies of all internal  emails and other communications regarding your response to my request for this information.

 

d) Please could you provide an explanation as to why the attached email was not included in this response and details of any other emails or documents which should have been sent.

 

I have copied this response to the CEO, Council Leader, Deputy Leader and Head of Legal as I believe that this matter is extremely serious and shows a culture of secrecy, obfusication and obstruction of transparency within Barnet Council.

 

I would appreciate a prompt response.

 

Regards

Roger Tichborne

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email1 (1)

Barnet Eye Exclusive : Barnet goes to war on the bloggers (and loses)

******** Updated  20:16 - The full transcript of this FOI + attachments is AVAILABLE HERE following approval from the blogger in question
http://barnetfutureshape.blogspot.com/2011/11/barnet-council-foi-response-reveals.html ********

Today I received an FOI response from Barnet Council. It was a month late, which is usually a sign that they have been rather naughty. To be quite honest with you, I could not believe my eyes when I read it. It reveals how Barnet Council, in April of this year, lodged a complaint with the ICO about a Barnet blogger (I don't believe that blogger to be me). The move was a clear attempt to start a process of intimidation against that blogger, with a view to closing down their blogging activities.

Whilst the information in the email identifying the blogger has been redacted, it is clear to me who the blogger was and what the complaint referred to. I am currently awaiting their approval before the full details of the correspondence are revealed - I will post this on the http://barnetfutureshape.blogspot.com/  website, where the Barnet bloggers are publishing all such lengthy correspondence.

What is reassurring is that the ICO rejected the complaint. Here is what the ICO had to say (amongst other things).

As so often has happened in Barnet Council's war with its residents, it has got it wrong and lost. Had I not submitted the FOI request, none of us would ever have known what they were up to or just how Stalinist they are getting. What is ridiculous is that nobody in Barnet had the wit to realise that they didn't have a leg to stand on. Does nobody in Barnet actually understand the law?

Barnet Council has complained about the cost of answering FOI requests from bloggers. Well I'm a Barnet Blogger, proud of it and I'd like to complain about the cost of Barnet Council being completely incompetent and waging war on it's citizens. Barnet Council somehow manage to combine the tactics of Joseph Stalin with the tactical know how of Mr Bean. God know how much this fiasco cost you and I, the Barnet Taxpayer.

Oh and finally, thank you to the Barnet Council employee who tipped me off about this in the first place. Barnet Council CEO Nick Walkley and Leader Richard Cornelius really should wake up to the fact that their staff will leak information when they find out that the Council are behaving in this manner. It takes us time to get the information out, but trust me, we do in the end !