1. Freedom of Information Some tales from the community journalism frontline Darryl Chamberlain darrylchamberlain.co.uk @darryl1974

2. Here’s what I do…. 853blog.com Greenwich and neighbouring areas in south east London Covering stories others don’t Holding Greenwich Council and other bodies to account

3. Here’s what I do… charltonchampion.co.uk Community news and what’s happening in Charlton Designed to be a neutral forum for local news and views

4. Here’s what I do… No to Silvertown Tunnel Campaign against new road crossing of the Thames New road would increase already-horrifying levels of air pollution in south-east and east London

5. Other media in SE London News Shopper (Newsquest) Based well outside local area Has recently lost dedicated local reporters for Greenwich and Lewisham Doesn’t use Freedom of Information to get stories

6. Other media in SE London Mercury (Tindle Newspapers) Runs on a skeleton staff, based well outside local area Is a free paper, yet copies are hard to find Doesn’t run any investigations

7. Other media in SE London Greenwich Time (Greenwich Council) One of just two council weeklies left in England Gives a rosy glow on local council policies – week in, week out Hardly likely to investigate itself

8. What is the FOI Act?

9. Why submit an FOI request? To find out figures To see how money is being spent To find views that’d otherwise be kept secret To obtain documents

10. Who do I ask for information? Greenwich Council – my local council Neighbouring councils such as Lewisham Transport for London – agency run by elected mayor of London which runs public transport and main roads.

11. FOI to find out figures

13. Who’s using this thing?

14. FOI to find out figures

17. Emirates Air Line FOI Asked for hourly breakdown over a week Asked for sales of a wide range of tickets Exercise has been repeated over three years Story generated London and UK coverage

18. Emirates Air Line FOI

20. Still short of passengers

21. Follow the money

22. Greenwich Council’s private mayor-making celebration costs £20,000 Invite lists reveal it’s used to schmooze property developers and reward chums Asking for wine list added colour to story

23. Follow the money

24. Section 106 payments on new developments such as supermarkets – where do they go?

25. Follow the money

26. Local improvements promised by developer and council had not appeared in area around new supermarket FOI found that £1.5m paid to council had been spent elsewhere or was sat unallocated

27. A quick word on Section 106 You won’t need FOI with some councils…

28. A quick word on Section 106 …but you will with others

29. Before you put in an FOI request… Check the authority hasn’t already published the information They can refuse to give you the information if it’s already out there, although they should point you to where it is

30. Revealing disagreements

31. Greenwich’s cycling sulk Greenwich Council was only one of 32 London boroughs to refuse to deal with the mayor’s cycling commissioner This was based on the council leader’s personal dislike of the commissioner, controversial journalist Andrew Gilligan

32. Greenwich’s cycling sulk I asked the Greater London Authority for correspondence between Gilligan and Greenwich Council Publishing the documents embarrassed the council into reversing its position I also asked Greenwich Council for the same correspondence, to check for discrepancies

33. Find out why projects fail

34. Greenwich Council had wanted to pedestrianise part of historic Greenwich town centre – a major tourist hotspot Transport for London refused to fund this Asking for correspondence between Greenwich and TfL revealed it was because TfL disapproved of creating a large one-way system It also outlined the steps Greenwich took to try to persuade them to hand over the cash.

35. FOI to get documents

36. Council-commissioned study into possible Docklands Light Railway extension – wasn’t published on website, but obtained using FOI Council cabinet had backed spending money on a follow-up report, but was unwilling to make it public. FOI ensured it was made public

37. FOI to get documents

39. I was working for MoneySavingExpert.com and knew ESTAs didn’t cost that much I put an FOI request into the Greater London Authority to get the receipt The FOI revealed his office had used a dodgy copycat site to get his travel permit

40. FOI to get documents

42. Opening up consultations You can ask for all responses to public consultations No to Silvertown Tunnel campaign has several datasets from consultations so responses can be studied in far greater detail

43. Opening up consultations Earlier this year, TfL started asking people for their Blackwall Tunnel horror stories So No to Silvertown Tunnel campaign asked for all responses, and their postcodes

44. Opening up consultations

45. FOI stories from elsewhere Lambeth’s ‘gentrification jolly’ London’s creaking flyovers West Ham United and the Olympic Stadium

46. Lambeth ‘gentrification jolly’ BrixtonBuzz.com has carried many stories on the gentrification of the south London area It’s frequently critical of Lambeth Council for evicting council tenants so properties can be redeveloped A 2014 FOI request revealed how property developers funded council officers attending a Cannes conference

47. Lambeth ‘gentrification jolly’

48. London’s creaking flyovers In 2012, BBC London used FOI to obtain a report into the poor condition of Hammersmith Flyover – a major traffic artery into the west of the capital It also asked for condition reports in all 36 TfL flyovers, and found seven were in a “poor” or “very poor” condition Two of those flyovers are in Greenwich – so I’ve put in my own FOI requests for more up-to-date reports

49. London’s creaking flyovers

50. West Ham United and the Olympic Stadium

51. West Ham United are due to move into the Olympic Stadium from 2016/17 season Deal is being brokered by the London Legacy Development Corporation, a public body Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust (CAST) obtained heavily- redacted contract via FOI, which revealed taxpayers are heavily subsidising West Ham’s move to the stadium Public money will be used to maintain the pitch, goalposts and corner flags – the sort of things other clubs fund themselves

52. West Ham United and the Olympic Stadium

53. Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust now asking to see full contract between West Ham and the LLDC LLDC refused, but CAST appealed to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ICO ruled LLDC was wrong and full contract must be released to CAST But LLDC is appealling against the ruling – so now case will go to a first tier tribunal

54. When can requests be refused? They include personal data or could affect a firm’s commercial interests They relate to decisions in the process of being made by a public authority (“safe space”) They cost too much to investigate (£450-£600+) They are “vexatious” Information is already out there (or has already been obtained by somebody else) Authorities have to weigh these exemptions up against the public interest

55. Appealling can work

56. I’d been tipped off about a confidential report given to Greenwich Labour councillors about the council’s support for new road-building – a controversial topic Greenwich refused to release it, citing the “safe space” exemption – it claimed it was still making its decision I gave the ICO enough evidence to show that Greenwich’s refusal was wrong, including showing that publication would be in the public interest

57. Appealling can work

59. Greenwich Council used a secret “viability assessment” to axe social housing on a plot of land on the Thames next to the O2 Local resident Shane Brownie used FOI to ask for the assessment – and got it, after 18 months of appeals against the council Greenwich is now proposing to publish more details of viability assessments as a matter of course He worked with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the BBC to get the story out there

60. Appealling can work

61. If your FOI request is refused… Ask for an internal review – should take 40 working days Then - appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office You (or the authority) can then take it to a first tier tribunal in a courtroom Final stage is a second-tier tribunal – this is where lawyers may be needed

62. WhatDoTheyKnow.com

63. WhatDoTheyKnow.com will track your request for you It lets you follow and search for past and current requests to any public authority in the UK It’s run by a charity – MySociety – which also runs other democracy tools such as TheyWorkForYou.com and WriteToThem.com All requests are public, so if you don’t want any rivals to be watching your requests, ask privately instead (foi@council.gov.uk)

64. Using WhatDoTheyKnow.com

69. Some final thoughts on FOI No two councils are the same – some are more open than others Many of the best requests will come from tip-offs or digging deeper into something you’ve spotted Have a good idea of what you expect to see – be as specific as possible in your request Look out for local campaigners who are using FOI Watch for interesting FOI stories from other areas If you have a simple idea – just ask. You never know where it’ll lead

70. Some final thoughts on FOI

71. Thanks for listening darrylchamberlain.co.uk @darryl1974