Rhondda Cynon Taf Council have appealed the ICO decision that the council must reveal coal tip locations to the residents of RCT.
AberdareOnline and Clear South Wales Coal Tips have been trying to get Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and the Welsh Government to publish where all the dangers coal tips are within Rhondda Cynon Taf, RCT Council has essentially said, because of the ongoing work involved with the coal tips they will not release any information on the location of the most dangerous coal tips.
AberdareOnline argument for this excuse was that there would always be ongoing work on the coal tips; therefore, that explanation should not stop the publication for the residents of RCT.
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council were given 35 calendar days from the date of this decision notice which was the 19 of December 2022
Information Commissioners Office said, “The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.”
The Council is not complying with the notice and has appealed against the ICO Decision Notice that was served on 19 December 2022 to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights), therefore it does not need to comply with the steps ordered in the Decision Notice untill the Tribunal reaches a decision on the appeal.
Information rights and data protection: appeal against the Information Commissioner
Case Number: EA/2023/0037
Appellant: Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council
Date received: 16 January 2023
ICO Decision: Reference 1C-159368-P0Y2
Public Authority involved: The Information Commissioner’s Office
No date set yet.
Once again RCT council want to keep local residents in the dark just like mushrooms, why the secretiveness and where is the opposition within the council? Are they in it just for the money? Give them a committee chair or give a relative a job on the council but don’t make waves, is this the way to silence the little opposition in the council?
The text below is taken from “A flawed hero: from Aberfan to HSWA”
The death of 116 children aged between seven and ten and 28 adults at Aberfan.
“On day 70, Lord Robens was finally sworn in to give evidence and admitted under questioning that ‘yes’ he had to concede that the event was ‘reasonably foreseeable’ and the National Coal Board was culpable. It’s quite possible that this was the first time he’d heard the phrase – certainly in relation to safety.”
“Why this late acceptance of culpability was so shameful is that the legal team representing the National Coal Board had been robust and challenging about absolutely everything from the outset.”
Is this the same road our council is going down by keeping information from the public? The Welsh Government are no better, there is no opposition therefore they both do as they like but is it always in the public interest?
“Jonathan Jones’ gripping BBC 2 documentary Aberfan – The Untold Story, provides a harrowing account of the disaster and reveals just how obstructive the National Coal Board and Lord Robens were during the tribunal of inquiry.”
“The report of the tribunal of inquiry into the disaster, published in August 1967, savaged the National Coal Board for its lack of a tipping policy and was critical of its chairman, dismissing his evidence as ‘inconsistent’.”
Is our council being just as obstructive? Let’s not forget some of the coal tips in RCT are as old as the Aberfan tips and we are informed some in the Rhondda are cordoned off because of movement.
The question is, is this council responsible for its residents? Or themselves?
