Council "bullying" revealed

Rochdale Borough Council has confirmed in an email that it is refusing to respond to enquiries made by Rochdale Online, this further escalates the ongoing discrimination by Rochdale Borough Council against Rochdale Online; the Council has also been refusing to issue media releases to Rochdale Online that are routinely sent to other local and regional media organisations, and has even told a non-council organisation that it cannot publicise an event on the free Rochdale Online events diary - it could and did!

The Local Authority Code of Conduct states: 'Publicity about local authorities and the services they provide should be freely available to anyone who wishes to receive such information in a format readily accessible and understandable by the person making the request or by any particular group for which services are provided.'

Rochdale Borough Council has not entered into any discussion with Rochdale Online as to why it is flouting the Code of Conduct and denying our readers information made available to the readers of competitor media organisations. It is, however, understood to be a reaction to a media release that was inadvertently published before the Council wanted it to be published, however, similar action has not been taken against another local media organisation that also published the same media release at a similar time. We therefore suspect there is more to it given the number of times the Council has expressed its 'anger' that Rochdale Online publishes indiscretions that the Council would prefer to bury or 'spin', and that Rochdale Online has consistently refused to bow to council pressure.

Rochdale Online Managing Director Pauline Journeaux said: "The conduct of Rochdale Borough Council is disgraceful and is nothing short of bullying. However, it only strengthens our resolve to hold the Council to account on behalf of the residents of the borough. We have seen far too often the way the Council fails to act in the best interests of those who live and work in the borough and we shall continue to highlight this. In fact, so concerned are we about the abuse of power that we launched a 'Council Watch' section and will be encouraging the residents of the borough and council employees (current and former) to 'whistle blow' and let us know of other abuses of power, waste of money, bad practice or corruption and we will shine the light of publicity on the things the council does not want you to know about."