Which wards do my councillors live in

This request has been withdrawn by the person who made it. There may be an explanation in the correspondence below.

Catherine MacArthur

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

I live in Bruce Grove Ward and my local councillors are; i) Cllr Dilek Dogus, ii) Cllr Stuart McNamara and iii) Cllr Joseph Ejiofor.

I would like to know;
1) In which wards my local councillors live in
2) How long they have lived there
3) Which wards did they live in before this

Yours faithfully,

Catherine MacArthur

FOI, Haringey Borough Council

Dear Ms MacArthur,

 

Freedom of Information Request, our reference: LBH/0147911

 

Thank you for your request for information dated 07 November 2011, in
which you asked for:

 

1) In which wards my local councillors live in

2) How long they have lived there

3) Which wards did they live in before this

 

 

We consider that the information you requested would be information which
is personal data about the Councillors.

 

Requests asking for personal data are exempt from the Freedom of
Information Act under Section 40(2) of that Act if the disclosure of the
information would breach any of the Data Protection principles.  The first
Data Protection principle requires personal data to be processed fairly
and lawfully. It would not be a legitimate use of their personal data for
us to process it in order to disclose it to you. The subject of this
information would not expect us to disclose their personal information to
a third party in this way. It would therefore be unfair and unlawful for
us to provide their information to you. This letter is a refusal notice as
required by the Freedom of Information Act.

 

If you have any further queries, or are unhappy with how we have dealt
with your request and wish to make a complaint, please contact the
Feedback and Information Team as below. (Please note you should do this
within two months of receiving this response.)   

 

Feedback and Information Team

River Park House

225 High Road

N22 8HQ

Telephone: 020 8489 2550

Email: [email address]

 

 

You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s office, who may be
able to help you.  However they would normally expect the local authority
to have undertaken a complaint investigation or Internal Review of the
request before they will accept the referral.  You can contact the
Commissioner at:

Postal address: Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF
Phone help line: 0845 6306060, or 01625 545745
Fax: 01625 545510
Website: www.ico.gov.uk

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Ms Sirkku Pietikäinen | Feedback Review Officer | Haringey Council  |
Feedback & Information Governance Team | 020 8489 2552

 

 

 

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Catherine MacArthur

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Haringey Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Which wards do my councillors live in'.

I am not asking for the councillors personal addresses - just in which wards they live in.

I believe that councillors not living in and around the area they represent, cannot be aware of what the views of local people are. They are also immune from the day to day frustrations and problems local people face on a day to day basis, and what changes local people want to prioritise.
The decisions being made regarding Tottenham seem to be directed at 'Groups' in the Borough, which is a small representation of the people living here, and because councillors do not do their daily/weekly shopping on Tottenham High Road, they don't send their children to local schools, they don't understand the needs on a daily basis of their constituents.

I therefore think it is important that local people know in which wards their Councillors live, as it has a direct knock on effect on how they deal with local issues.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wh...

Yours faithfully,

Catherine MacArthur

Julian Taylor left an annotation ()

Hi Catherine

Interesting decision by Haringey since council candidates' addresses are a matter of public record. Addresses for the 2010 elections can be found at http://www.haringey.gov.uk/election-cand...

Of your three councillors, at the time of election, one lived in Bruce Grove, one in Bounds Green and the other in Fortis Green.

JT

Catherine MacArthur left an annotation ()

Thank you Julian,

That is interesting. I am doing a study on how easy/difficult it is to feel & to take part In a democratic society. So far,it's very difficult. Information and communication seems to be in the hands of the few, and difficult to access. So

Thanks again,

Kind Regards
Catherine MacArthur

Alan Stanton left an annotation ()

Hi Catharine,

Julian helpfully links to our addresses in May 2010. But some of us have moved.

If you are doing an academic study to explore the correlation between a neighbourhood where a councillor lives, and their awareness of the views, frustrations and priorities of local people, you might wish to ask some wider questions.

If you explain the purpose of your study you may find councillors willing to answer direct questions. That may be more informative than using the F.o.I. Act. As you'll know, the Act is limited in applying to information held by a public authority. So few of the issues you wish to explore will be covered and some may be a matter for data protection. For example where councillors shop, and where they send or sent their children to school. (Not all have school age children. Though bear in mind that many will be or have been school governors.)

Contact details - including email addresses for Haringey councillors are on the website here:
http://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/mgMem...

Alan Stanton
Tottenham Hale ward councillor

Catherine MacArthur

Dear FOI,

I am able to withdraw my request for an internal review because I have been told by members of the public that the information I wanted was in the Public Domain.

It is interesting that you were not able to tell me this - instead, you chose to tell me that you thought that the information I was requesting would;
'breach any of the Data Protection principles' but more worryingly,

'The subject of this information would not expect us to disclose their personal information to a third party in this way. It would therefore be unfair and unlawful for us to provide their information to you.

I think your response has said a lot about Haringey's general Modus Operandi when it comes to it informing its residents of information relating to itself.
My study refers to how easily, or how difficult it is for somebody with no idea how Local or Central Government works, or has no clue about the British Constitution, to be part of the 'Democratic' system.

I think you have answered my question in no uncertain terms.

Yours sincerely,

Catherine MacArthur

Catherine MacArthur

Dear Councillor Alan,

Thank you very much for your comments which are really useful and which I very much appreciate you taking an interest in.

I did notify Haringey sometime ago (by going to their Offices), of Councillor email addresses which were not correct on the website.

The email link you have sent (above) is not valid, nor are the email addresses posted on Haringey's newly designed website. (including yours). For example, Dilek's address links to; '[email address].uklocalhost/' but this is an invalid address.
It took me about 6 months to get her correct email address and I had to go to Haringey's Offices to get it.

It's the 'localhost' bit that should be removed. I did email (way back) Haringey to let them know, its amazing, but nothing has changed.

I believe Haringey obfuscates information linking to communication. Even Agenda's to Council run meetings - don't include participant's full names - I am still trying to find this information for a meeting I attanded some 3 months ago.

Yours faithfully,

Catherine MacArthur
PS Do not hesitate to send me a personal email through this website if you can - as I am mindful that our messages here are perhaps go beyond the remit of this website. If not, my councillors have my email address.

Alan Stanton left an annotation ()

Hi Catherine,

I'm happy to respond to your comment publicly. Not least because other people may have the same problem as you getting this information through the newly designed Haringey website.

But I've *not* been able to reproduce the fault you describe - with "uklocalhost" inserted in an email address.

Nor can I get the link I posted to *fail*. This may be due to the particular operating system and web browser you are using. In which case it would be helpful if you could please let our web team know about it.

You can email them using this page:
www.haringey.gov.uk/report_a_problem

Scroll down near to the bottom of the page and click on "Report a problem with the website."

I've had the same difficulty trying to reproduce your problem with councillors' email addresses. Again, this may show up a fault in the web page when used with particular software.

I'm using Firefox and my email address seems to work fine. As does email for Dilek Dogus.

Most Haringey Councillor's email - except mine - follows a standard format: firstname.secondname@haringey.gov.uk

My publicly listed email address on the Council's website is correct.

Alan