BOROUGH councillor Phil Heath has called for more openness in the Civic Offices after battling to get information about the town's community wardens.

Cllr Heath had a number of queries about the wardens after councillors were given a six-month progress report on the scheme.

However, when he asked council officers for more information about the role of the wardens, he was told he couldn't be given it because of the Data Protection Act.

He said: "They produced a table that showed, over the months, how many meetings they had attended and how many incidents they had attended. But it doesn't actually tell me anything. They could have attended 100 incidents, but only solved one.

"I had a meeting arranged with the wardens and I wanted to be fully armed with the facts, but when I asked, I just got quoted the Data Protection Act and they said 'We can't tell you that'."

Cllr Heath believes council officers should be making councillors' jobs easier, not more difficult, and that the rules should be changed.

He said: "I have asked the chief executive to look into this. I have signed a code of conduct, so I should be able to have this sort of information. If I breach the code, then I can be disqualified.

"As far as I am concerned, I am covered, and I want the councillors to be able to have the information they need to do the job properly for the people they represent."

Council chief executive Gordon Holdcroft has agreed to look into Cllr Heath's complaints.

He said: "It is important that elected members have information to carry out their important roles to the full. However, occasionally we are bound by legislation such as the Data Protection Act, or information-sharing protocols with our partners.

"Legislation is certainly not in place to hide behind and we are happy to provide appropriate information where possible."

Mr Holdcroft believes the public need to believe that any information they give to the wardens is not misused in any way.

He said: "The Community Wardens partnership scheme has been very successful, achieving a great deal in the first six months.

"It is important that local residents trust that the information they provide to the wardens is dealt with correctly, as some information is confidential and sensitive."

Mr Holdcroft has agreed to look at the system used by councillors to access information, to see if it can be improved in any way.