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Castletown Commissioners wants to see financial charges for FoI requests

Manx Newscast

Tuesday, 4 August 2026 - 8 minutes

Castletown Commissioners is wanting to see charges introduced for Freedom of Information requests after it received 14 in one year.

Chair Tony Brown says at the moment the cost of responding is being borne by ratepayers, and he would also like the anonymity element removed from the act.

The local authority is planning to ask the Council of Ministers to look into changing the regulations to allow local authorities and other statutory bodies to charge for the service.

Mr Brown adds the commissioners are there to 'provide information' to residents and it has 'nothing to hide'.

He believes people should be making their requests in writing first, before resorting to an FoI request if the response isn't sufficient.

Local Democracy Reporter Emma Draper has been speaking to him.

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