Castletown Commissioners wants to see financial charges for FoI requests

Chair Tony Brown says ratepayers shouldn't cover the cost of the service

Castletown Commissioners wants to see charges introduced for Freedom of Information requests after it received 14 in one year. 

Chair Tony Brown says at the moment the cost of responding is being borne by ratepayers, and he would also like the anonymity element removed from the act. 

The local authority is planning to ask the Council of Ministers to look into changing the regulations to allow local authorities and other statutory bodies to charge for the service.

Introducing charging was considered by CoMin last year, but it decided against introducing a fee for such requests - find out more HERE.

Mr Brown adds the board is there to 'provide information' to residents and it has 'nothing to hide'. 

He believes people should be making their requests in writing first, before resorting to an FoI request if the response isn't sufficient. 

Local Democracy Reporter Emma Draper has been speaking to him:

You can listen to the full interview here: