Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by the Parish Council. It does this in two ways:

1. we are obliged to publish certain information about our activities; and
2. members of the public are entitled to request information from us.

Recorded information includes printed documents, computer files, letters, emails, photographs, and sound or video recordings. Anyone can request information – there are no restrictions on your age, nationality or where you live.

How we publish information

This website is one of the ways we publish information about our activities.  We also regularly send information about our activities via email to residents who have registered to receive the information. There are Parish Council notice boards in both villages of Rodington and Longdon upon Tern.

Every public authority must have a publication scheme, but the Information Commissioner’s Office ( ICO) has now created a Model Publication Scheme that the Parish Council has adopted. Our publication scheme, which details how and where we publish information can be found on our policies page.

How to request information

If you wish to request information from us you can contact us in writing to make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. This can be by:

1. letter
2. email
3. online form
4. fax

Details of how to contact us by any of these methods are available here. You should give us:

1. your name
2. a contact address
3. a detailed description of the information you want – for example, you might want all information held on a subject, or just a summary.

You can ask for information in a particular format, such as:

1. paper or electronic copies of information
2. audio format
3. large print

You should get the information within 20 working days. We will tell you when to expect the information if we need more time.

Most requests are free but you might be asked to pay a small amount for photocopies or postage. You’ll be told by us if you have to pay anything.

If your request is turned down

Some sensitive information is not available to members of the public. If this applies, we will tell you why we cannot give you some or all of the information you requested.

We might ask you to be more specific so we can provide just the information you need.

We can also refuse your Freedom of Information (FOI) request if it will cost more than £450 to find and extract the information.

Reviews and Complaints

If an we do not provide you with the information you requested, you should first ask us to review our decision.

You can then complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office  if you’re still not satisfied.