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Oct 2020

Last Updated: 15/10/2020

Politics

Harrogate Borough Council accused of 'behaving like a secret state'

by Connor Creaghan

| 15 Oct, 2020

Jerry Diccox accuses the council of 'shameful' behaviour and says it should follow its own aims of being more open and democratic after winning his six-month Freedom of Information battle.

A local man has accused Harrogate Borough Council of "behaving like a secret state" after winning a six-month Freedom of Information battle.

Jerry Diccox submitted a FoI request in March after council leader Cllr Richard Cooper rejected calls to stream meetings live online.

Mr Cooper said he could not justify spending tens of thousands of pounds on streaming meetings that would be watched by two or three people.

Mr Diccox asked the council to provide evidence substantiating Mr Cooper's claims. The council said the information was exempt from disclosure because it was commercially sensitive.

Mr Diccox requested an internal review, saying the issue related to public money and therefore the information should be in the public domain. But the council's chief solicitor upheld the original decision.

'Nothing short of shameful'

However, the Information Commissioner's Office ruled in Mr Diccox's favour when he appealed and, six months after his original request, the information was released.

Writing back to the council, Mr Diccox said the process had been a "huge waste of time". He added:

"That it took pressure from the ICO and over six months of waiting for Harrogate Borough Council to provide this information, during which time it attempted to hide it behind the "public interest" exemption, is nothing short of shameful.

"It demonstrates either a wilful determination within the council to avoid public accountability, democracy and openness

"In future, the council should try to follow its own aims of being more open and democratic, and stop trying to behave like a secret state."

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Harrogate Borough Council denied there was any attempt to avoid accountability:

"The quotes were provided by external suppliers as part of the process to investigate the cost of equipping the council chamber with the hardware necessary to live-stream meetings and software for proceedings to be ‘broadcast’.

"We believed this information to be commercially sensitive and therefore exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) of the FOI Act. The Information Commissioner disagreed with our judgement, so we have released the information."

Mr Diccox's efforts revealed the council received three quotes for streaming its meetings, ranging from just over £5,000 to nearly £48,000:

Option 1: £5,377 one-off cost for installation and training to enable YouTube hosting. The council would be responsible for managing videos.

Option 2: £25,185 for one year or £40,623 for three years. Full webcasting solution offer to install and service the streaming of meetings.

Option 3: £19,168 for one year or £47,468 for three years. Full webcasting solution offer will be the same as option 2 but also include website hosting fees.

HBC did not take up any of the options to stream meetings from the council chambers.

Since covid it has, however, held meetings on Microsoft Teams and broadcast them on YouTube. They are then removed after two weeks.

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Harrogate Borough Council accused of 'behaving like a secret state'

'Nothing short of shameful'

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