Can I please inform your readers that Herefordshire Council wasted 120 hours or £3400 dealing with my Data Protection Act request when they did not need to (see below extract from DPA) Under section 8(2) of the Act you are not obliged to supply a copy of the information in permanent form if it would involve disproportionate effort to do so.

Does this sum of £3400 represent just the tip of the iceberg and the council is wasting tens of thousands complying with unnecessary requests? Is Herefordshire Council wasting even more money that could be better spent on No 1 Ledbury Road or the Library?

I think the decision to comply with my request was erroneous, especially when you remember that Herefordshire Council had the 5th worst performance for Data Breaches in the UK and this too would have resulted in a considerable waste of monies.

Phil Smart

Hereford