A Sussex council is refusing to release a document detailing how £42 million of money is being spent in a way which allows taxpayers to search and sort the information.
West Sussex County Council published a pdf version of the document, which details more than 400 transport projects due to take place throughout West Sussex in the next financial year, on Monday.
But anyone wanting to sort the data to easily see what’s happening in their area, or which projects are getting the most money, cannot do that.
The council refused a request from Sussex News to send the information in the original Excel format – saying it could not do so for “version control” reasons.
When asked to what it thought Sussex News might do with the Excel spreadsheet, it declined to elaborate.
Sussex News has asked for the request to be considered under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Case law suggests the council will have to release the Excel spreadsheet – but readers will have to wait four weeks.
A spokesman said: “As explained to Sussex News, the relevant information is readily available for the public and media to view on our website. An FOI request has been received and will be considered following the timelines allowed by the FOI act.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office says on its website that data must be released in the specific electronic format requested under the FOI Act unless it is not “reasonably practicable” to do so.
The pdf’s metadata shows it was originally converted by the democratic services department on 13 February from an Excel spreadsheet.
A 2014 Court of Appeal ruling, which established the principle that information should be released in the requested electronic format, said: “Citizens are given the right of access to public information at least in part so that they can make use of such information.”
