COUNCILLORS have been criticised for making too many Freedom of Information requests to their own authority.

Peter Halliday, councillor responsible for finance at Tendring Council, told a cabinet meeting the requests were costing a lot of money.

Mr Halliday asked members to make more informal approaches for information.

He said: “Do we really want to be charging our members for information?

“No we don’t, so we would ask them to come forward but be reasonable.

“They know full well the request will come with a charge, if it is excessive.

“Our officers are under a lot of pressure and we have to look at where they are spending their time.

“Every hour they spend on the requests, they are not spending on delivering services for the taxpayer.”

Figures have not been collated for the past year, but since October 1 this year Tendring Council has received more than 50 information requests, three being from councillors.

Tendring Council does not charge for Freedom of Information requests, which take up to 18 hours of staff time to compile and respond to.

A £450 charge is levied for requests taking up more than 18 hours of staff time, with £25 for every hour thereafter. Mr Halliday added: “We are an open and transparent organisation and the cabinet is too.

“My message to councillors is if there’s something you need to know, just ask us and we will give you that information where we can.”

Councillor Pierre Oxley, who has made two information requests in the past two months, said: “This totally undermines the principle of the requests.

“The whole idea is it’s official. You would potentially get only half the information.”

Councillor Chris Griffiths, who has also made FoI requests in the past, said he did not think asking a councillor for information was always the most appropriate first step.

He said: “If you ask people with a political background, then you get a political slant.”