Parish clerk refusing to communicate

Question

Hi.

My local parish clerk has emailed me to say he will no longer by reading or responding to my emails. He has taken umbrage to  my questions.
How do I proceed to have my questions answered if he is refusing to communicate
Thanks

Answer 1

Are you a councillor or a member of the public?

Comments

I am a member of the public

Answer 2

It of course depends on how the question was asked and what answers that have already been given (you said no longer communicating). If you have asked a specific question and had an answer ( you may not be happy with it) then it is very easy to  wrongly then continue with related questions thereby entering into a continuing back and forth diatribe. Check out whether you have asked the same question repeatedly thereby allowing a claim of vexation in your communication. Has the clerk given a reason for discontinuing your exchange of emails? If it is information you are seeking (ie a document) then a freedom of information request might be the way forward. Check out the councils policy for dealing with FOI and also complaints from the public.

Answer 3

If you are asking legitimate, businesslike, public interest questions and the clerk refuses to correspond, you should first raise a complaint to the employing PC.  They may have an HR committee or group which should independently assess the reasonableness of the question and and reaction from the clerk.