Local council refuse FOI request on inspections

[Happyjoe]

Hello! Wondering what my next steps are. It's regarding a neighbour who moved in over a year ago. She does not throw out her rubbish, leaving it 2 meters away from my back door or as it is now, piled up against my fence. We're taking bags and bags of it, maggots too. She also leaves some in the shared alleyway that we all need access to, then the bags ripped open by vermin, contents spilling out and it's not then collected (I don't blame them) as a lot of the food has liquified and spread. I currently have about 24 bags of rubbish against my fence, it smells bad.

I initially complained and the council ignored it. Put in a stage one complaint a couple of months later last Nov and it was upheld. All the rubbish cleared from her garden, from the alleyway and I expressed my thanks. The people who removed it said it was the worst they'd seen in a long time. The housing dept (she is a council tenant) promised regular inspections going forward to ensure this didn't happen again.

No more rubbish went out. Feb I wrote again. No movement for 6 weeks, so stage one complaint again. Upheld and rubbish went. No inspections took place because of staff illness - understandable but somewhat neglectful not passing on the work. I didn't complain though. The second stage one complaint was patronising, told a lie and also gave me the dates where someone had inspected, of which there were two, and by which member of staff. I did not ask for this information, they gave it to me (presumably to say they were actually doing their job).

Fast forward June this year. No rubbish removed. I wrote again, no response. No rubbish has been removed.

Upon the FOI act, I asked the council to let me know how many times the council have inspected the property. I need this information to take it further. The problem with stage one complaints is that you can only do stage two within 20 days and it takes a while for the rubbish to mound up. I can't complain to an ombudsmen because they want you to go through all the stages and of course, the stages/acceptance are done by the council.

They have refused under GDPR rules. I have asked them to explain why then they had already volunteered this information some month ago and did not consider GDPR then. No response from them.

Of course it's clear that they have no inspected because inspection would equal no rubbish piles, but I need them to admit it and they will not.

Anyone know where I stand legally with FOI when some of the information has already been given by them?

Cheers for help!

I'm not sure why the stages being done by the council is relevant. If you go through the council's complaints process and are not happy with the outcome, you can go to the ombudsman.

It may be that the information on inspections should be classed as your neighbour's personal data, in which case they should not have disclosed it to you. The fact they did does not justify doing so again. However, it isn't clear if the data you are after is personal data. You can refer their refusal to give you the information to the ICO for a ruling.

Cheers! When I looked at the local council ombudsman it clearly states need to go through all 3 stages of complain before they will consider looking at it, sadly. 3 stages is all the stages at the local council.

I have asked the council to explain to me what personal data I have asked for regarding their decision, because I haven't asked for any. I already know her name and address, she lives next door! I don't want any personal info.

I heard back from the council over the first bit about already giving me some of the info - 'We cannot answer that' was their reply believe it or not.

Will look into the ICO, they can be quite good... thanks for the idea, appreciated.

What did your neighbour say to you when you explained to her that the rubbish is unacceptable?
Have you asked your neighbour if the council have been to see it?

The response to the FoI should provide you with information about what to do if you are not happy with their response. If it doesn't then the process should be on their website. I you don't believe they gave handled your request correctly then you can raise it with the ICO.

GDPR has nothing to do with this. You’re asking for council visit numbers not details of what’s in the rubbish bags.

Id go back and take it to the next stage. I don’t see why you need the number and if you just write zero.

In the meantime can you keep contacting environmental health to say the bags are still there.

And I’d contact your local councillor. I find they can be better placed to get things like this done for you.

My neighbour and I are not on good terms. This is a problem in a list of problems. Plus I've heard her say to her mum 'I don't like rubbish'. So she doesn't move it until the council forces her to.

It's a housing issue, believe it or not and housing are ignoring all emails from me until I put in stage one complaints. Done another today. A stupid system.

At the weekend I wrote to the local leader of our local gov, hope to hear back at some stage. I tried the MP before on another issue regarding my neighbour and was as useful as a chocolate teapot sadly. Rubbish though shouldn't be an issue, it's very black and white.

How many times they have visited her house is her personal data and should have been refused under Section 40 of the Act.
The complaints process for FOI includes internal reviews which will be carried out by the council before the complaint can go to the ICO.

As I see it (FOI expert not housing or waste expert) they are right not to release the information and any complaint will not be upheld.

Sorry not to be helpful.

What is the personal data part of this?

I have not asked for times, dates. Just how many. They already told me of two visits, date and who carried out the inspection.

I think you should go down the ombudsman route. You have continually complained and you are stuck in a repeated cycle around the same issue which is not acceptable.

I believe they will take this on board. I've complained to public services ombudsman 3 times and my complaints were upheld every time and the council have taken care to avoid repeats (each complaint was completely separate unrelated issues).

Thankyou, I will try. I can phone them up to 1pm apparently, get some guidance.
Glad you had a good success rate! Gives me hope.

Definitely. I’d try your councillor though , I find them better for local issues than MP

Because it's her house. They have made a mistake in telling you what they have and she would have grounds to complain if she.found out.

I'm so sorry you're in this situation.

But I live next door. It's very odd that this even applies as it's not telling me anything I don't already know?

So the council can tell me they are going to inspect regularly, next door, then not be allowed to tell me how many times they have gone? No dates, no personal stuff. I must admit, I find this somewhat lacking in common sense.

Exactly you can see over the fence ffs.

Id go to the ombudsman now too if the council are being obstinate. I find they just lie and cover up if you complain anyway. Why did they want the number for stage 2?

As a local authority officer.....you're better off finding out who your ward councillor is and in addition who is the executive member for environment and emailing them. Adding fois and legal issues basically takes officer time away from dealing with the actual issues you want them to be getting on with. But if you go to exec member they will have a briefing with officers and say right what's going on here then and it'll get sorted. Much more likely to get the outcome you want (especially if you have elections in the next year or so)

I didn't want the number when did stage 2, I didn't ask for it - they volunteered the information. I think it was put in to try and.. prove they were doing their job?

My response on the 2nd stage one complaint was really bad even though was upheld. You could tell they were proper pissed off with me the way everything was worded.

Thankyou everyone for all your info and help, much much appreciated. :-)

I hope you get the outcome you want, local and national ( guardian), would embarrass them to address the issue?

Local cllrs can put a rocket up officers.

if the housing are not playing ball I’d write to the MP. Most of the have 121’s with local housing - if they me ton complaints from constituents regarding shit casework etc at a higher / starr level they often move.

It's personal information because it's to do with enforcement action being taken against her tenancy.

This sort of rubbish problem is actually really difficult to resolve (speaking as a former housing officer). The council can't physically make her do it. If they clear it, it's very expensive and is using public money, and will just build up again. If they clear it and charge her, chances are she won't pay. The ultimate sanction is eviction, but that takes a long time and may be considered disproportionate. This sort of thing is one of the reasons I'm glad I'm now a former housing officer.

Yes I can imagine - they never like to admit they’ve done anything wrong!

No, and I presume this is why they won't give me the number, rather than any data concerns! It proves they are not doing the job they promised. They know it, I know it and it's just a game.

Enforcement? So if she has an inspection, does that mean it's an enforcement action? I didn't know that. Cheers! She should be evicted though if she flat refuses to do anything? It's against her tenancy agreement isn't it? I had not got involved, there would be about 14 months of rubbish there by now because she never put any out from day one.

Yes, I can imagine you are pleased not to be doing that job...