Freedom of Information Requests (FoIs)

8.12.2020

FoIs proved a very valuable source of information and still are. They are shown in the sub-pages. We started making these requests when we were unable to obtain the agreement for the sale of land by Camden to the private company, TRAC Properties Ltd.

When we found an agreement was in fact on the Land Registry site and down-loadable from there, we sought confirmation with an FoI request from Camden that it was what it said it was. After some delay, a new Camden officer decreed that the FoI should be responded to to confirm that it was the valid document. 

This lead to a large number of questions that needed an answer.  A senior partner in one of the major firms of solicitors advised us that there was no possibility of Camden refusing them on the grounds of the number of enquiries. 

In the event, later, it was deemed to be an issue and further FoIs were invalidated on the grounds I was "vexatious". That decision, though never rescinded, was made by a relatively junior Council Officer (Sam Monck) unknown to either the Borough Solicitor (Andrew Maughan) or the head of the complaints department.

Resort therefore had to be made to using friends and relations to front requests and the Whatdotheyknow site which anonimises requests. Later, similar requests could be made as member requests by the Ward Councillor, Alison Kelly, which had the advantage that Camden were required to respond in half the time of an FoI

Later, I put in FoIs under my own name and they received replies and hopefully, still do.

The above is the context in which the FoIs in the sub-pages were made.