STAUNCH supporters of government transparency have roared their opposition to a council’s plans.

Cotswold District Council (CDC) is urging a change to the rules that govern Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, which allow any member of the public to find out information about a public body.

Although they are “fully supportive” of FOI requests, they feel overburdened by companies applying for information, often on commercial grounds, which has pushed the cost of answering requests up to around £49,000 a year.

At least 33 per cent of requests come from businesses.

Campaigners fear a government body's upcoming report will recommend allowing public bodies to reject costly FOI requests.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn recently pledged his support for FOI, saying it was “very, very important” for countries to have freedom of information to “hold to account those that exercise authority”.

Paul Hodgkinson, county councillor for Bourton and Northleach and former district councillor, said: “Freedom of Information is there for all of us to ask difficult and searching questions about how the council spends our money.

“The amount spent answering the requests is a lot, and some things that come from them can be embarrassing, but that is democracy.”

He added that “if CDC can spend money on a motivational magician it can spend money on transparency”, referring to the £19,000 the authority paid for Magic Circle member Shay McConnon’s services in 2011 soon after announcing severe cuts.

Tim Minogue, editor of Private Eye magazine's Rotten Boroughs page, which has carried numerous stories about CDC in recent years, said: "£49,000 seems a small price to pay for some much-needed scrutiny.

“Of course if CDC, and many other councils and public bodies, were more open and transparent in the first place the number and cost of FOI requests would be very much less. As much information as possible should be openly available on clear, easy to navigate websites.”

He added that officials were paid at the public expense: “They are the servants of the public, not the other way round, but they far too often forget this.”

A spokesman for CDC said Cllr Hodgkinson and Mr Minogue had misunderstood the council’s concerns, they were very supportive of FOI and their website contained a “wide range” of information that the public can access without FOI requests.

“We have for some time now published details of all of our financial expenditure, which is over and above the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code,” he added.

“The key issue that we had highlighted within our submission to the Independent Commission was that while we deal with some FOI requests from companies pursuing genuine concerns, they are outnumbered considerably by enquiries from firms seeking information for their own benefit rather than in the public interest.

"This is of concern to us, given the impact on staff time of what are often very detailed enquiries – and those concerns are shared by other local authorities across the country, who also receive similar requests which appear to provide no benefit to the general public.”