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Contrary to popular belief, people are entitled to know considerably more about public bodies, as they are after all, meant to be acting on our behalf. And on behalf of our taxes.
If all else fails, two good ways of obtaining information are under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or, if appropriate, under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Sustainable Communities Act campaigners have been lobbying for the SCA Act Amendment Bill to include the 'Local Spending Reports', ie a breakdown of spending by all public bodies.
In October 2009, a Nottingham campaigner took his council to the court (as they could not disclose 'commercially confidential' information), and won.
The people of Mark Thomas' 'People's Manifesto' are asking that one of the new policies is that all MPs wear tabards with undoubtedly long lists of everyone who's sponsored them in some shape or form.
Meanwhile, in Southwark, Elephant and Castle regeneration Heads of Terms with Land Lease are now in public domain but virtually impossible to find on the Council's website. You can download the document here.
After a worrying news last week about the Council's overspend on consultants, we have asked for a full list of all council's contractors and consultants and will publish it as soon as we have it.
Camberwell campaigners have put together a request for Declaration of Interest from all Councillors, so feel free to email your ones – some of the questions are fairly generic, others are locality-specific but can still be easily applied for most other areas.
Declarations of Interest
- Do you, or your partner, own a car or hire one on a long term basis?
- Does most food and grocery shopping in your household involve driving to a supermarket?
- Do you either currently work in the private sector, or have more than four years' of experience in the private sector?
- Have you ever run a business?
- Do you cycle in Camberwell or other parts of central London for several days each week?
- Do you use public transport on a daily basis?
Councillor Policy Positions
- Do you believe that a single parade of independent shops offering complementary goods and services can offer an alternative to local families to driving to supermarkets?
- Do you believe there are enough businesses in Camberwell to satisfy local demand for goods and services?
- Do you believe that businesses in Camberwell offer goods and services of sufficient quality?
- Do you believe that the cosmopolitan nature of Camberwell society is fully reflected in its businesses?
- Do you believe that Camberwell's creative spirit is adequately reflected in the A1, A2 and A3 ground floor uses which remain?
- Do you see a role for a network of second tier shopping areas in outer Camberwell with significantly lower rents than in central Camberwell?
- Do you agree that commercial property prices can bear no relation to residential prices in the same location, due to factors such as crime and footfall?
- Do you agree that the test for whether a commercial use is viable should be whether there is local demand, and that following on from this the highest offer for rent – even if this is £1 – is the natural market rate for that premises?
- Do you agree that commercial landlords who do not let out their properties for periods of greater than one year should be penalised, and that there should be business rate incentives for landlords letting out properties empty for more than six months?
- Do you believe that Camberwell town centre has enough visitor parking to compete with supermarkets and other centres?
- Do you believe that outer Camberwell's second tier shops have enough visitor parking to remain competitive?
- Do you think anything should be done to discourage use of drive-in supermarkets such as Sainsbury, Tesco and Lidl, to reduce short car journeys and congestion?
If you decide to send this to your councillor, let us know of their response. If you've been struggling to find things out and need help or advice, email us to
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