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Caerphilly County Borough Council has been ordered to provide details about the closure of a housing office in Blackwood after failing to respond to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted more than two months ago.

Blackwood councillor Kevin Etheridge lodged an FOI on January 9 about the decision to permanently close the office and move services to the town’s library, which he said was opposed by local councillors.

The council has yet to respond to the request, exceeding the statutory deadline of providing a response within 20 working days under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

A decision notice from the Information Commissioner’s Office, a watchdog which upholds information rights, says Cllr Etheridge complained to them about the delay on February 13.

The commissioner contacted the council on February 26 about the outstanding response, but the correspondence was not responded to or acknowledged by the authority, it says.

“The commissioner’s decision is that the council failed to respond to the request within 20 working days and has therefore breached section 10 of the FOIA,” the decision notice says.

The commissioner has now ordered the council to issue “a substantive response” to the request.

“The council must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice,” the notice adds.

“Failure to comply may result in the commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.”

Cllr Etheridge – who is standing as an Independent candidate for Islwyn in the Senedd election – said he asked for details about the closure of the office, claiming ward members were ‘ignored’ when the decision was made.

“I am very disappointed that my request has been ignored,” he said.

“It seems the Information Commissioner’s patience is wearing thin, having now mentioned the possibility of the High Court if matters are not complied with.”

A council spokesman said: “We are dealing with a backlog of FOI requests, due to staff being diverted to the Covid pandemic response, as well as limited access to hard copy records held in council offices during this period of remote working.

“Unfortunately this has delayed the response to some FOI requests.

“We would assure the public that the council takes our FOI responsibilities seriously and a recovery plan is underway to ensure the backlog is addressed, and the majority of new FOI requests are processed within expected timescales wherever possible.”