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!

Yup. They will never admit or change anything. The complaint system itself is a farce. Its ridiculous if environmental health won't get involved. I'd email your local councillors this morning. I find they can speak to officers directly. I've had good results from them when the council do nothing on various issues.

Does your neighbour have children in which case social services should be informed

But I suggest that what inspection was or was not carried out is irrelevant the issue is that housing said they were going to take action to stop the problem being repeated and they clearly haven't

That's the grounds for your next complaint

Yes, it is and the one I put in yesterday, my third stage on complaint.

Yes, she has a 4 year old child.

The fact that a particular individual's property has been inspected is likely to be personal information under GDPR. So I'm afraid GDPR does indeed have something to do with this.

They can but they can't make them disregard the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

You can go to the ICO however it is unlikely they will enforce against the council. This is classed as personal information and would be treated as such under Section 40 of the FOI Act.
Just like if your neighbour asked for information as to whether or not you were behind in your council tax payments.
It's quite possible that the council officer who gave you information about previous visits may be in breach of the act.
A release of information under the act is considered as a release to the "public at large" - i.e. it's not just being given to you it's being given to the whole world - so for example if you wrote to the local paper about it and said "And the council have told me they have inspected number 23 six times" then that would be the resident of number 23's personal information.
Feel free to raise complaints and take it as far up the food chain of the council as you can and to the LGO but the FOI Act is not the way forward.
You could try asking something like "how many inspections were there in my ward over the last six months?"