Back in January, we asked Swale Borough Council for information about Faversham's controversial war memorial.
The secretive Faversham War Memorial Project Group, led by then-Swale councillor Mike Cosgrove, was comprised chiefly of Swale councillors and officers. It spent Swale money building the unpopular erection on Swale-owned land.
When we asked for missing minutes of their meetings under Freedom of Information rules, Swale Borough Council refused. The council didn't deny it had the withheld minutes, instead saying: “The group itself is not a committee of the Council and is not carrying out functions on behalf of the Council, therefore any information they hold, or that comes into our possession from them, does not amount to information held by the Council.”
Not quite the level of openness and transparency we had hoped for. So we made an official complaint to the Information Commissioner. We have since been notified that the Information Commissioner's office will be officially investigating and will keep readers up to date with developments.
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