A COUNCIL has “given up” being transparent and open for the sake of saving £3,000 a year, campaigners have claimed.

Brighton and Hove City Council has confirmed that potentially sensitive and embarrassing information obtained by residents and journalists will no longer be displayed on their own website.

The authority has decided not to renew the groundbreaking agreement with My Society to save £3,000 a year despite the scheme costing £15,000 to set-up when it was first unveiled just two years ago.

While some freedom of information results will still be displayed on the WhatDoTheyKnow, requests emailed directly to the local authority will no longer be publicly accessible.

The council was the only one in the country to have such an agreement and it was hailed as one of the landmarks of the then Green administration’s first year in charge by former council leader Jason Kitcat.

But the council has decided not to renew the agreement after it expired this month.

Community campaigner Steve Parry said the council have given up on the idea of being transparent and open about its data.

He described the move as “a major decision” that was carried out swiftly and abruptly and would prevent information being made available to residents.

He added: “The decision does not make sense financially as if there is not a public record of questions and answers it is obvious that the number of FOI requests will increase at a cost much greater than £3,000 per annum.

“The change means a major restriction on access to information that, at the very least, should have been discussed in committee and consulted upon.”

A MySociety spokeswoman said: “Naturally we are disappointed if the council did not find that the system made savings for them and would be interested to talk with them in the future should the opportunity arise.

“We are broadly in favour of anything councils and other public bodies can do to increase transparency and accountability, and hope that BHCC will find other channels by which to ensure these remain a priority.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: “Contracts are regularly reviewed to ensure that we receive and offer the best services and value for money to all our users.

“In this case, a decision was taken not to renew the contract.

“The contract costs were a £15,000 for external implementation costs, £850 for internal implementation and then £3,000 annually for ongoing hosting, support and maintenance.

“It was anticipated that the website would reduce workload however most, if not all, requests made under FoI are unique so even referencing previous responses tended to give incomplete answers.”