personal and business interests of Teignbridge councillors will not be published on the web because 'mischievous' members of the public could abuse the system. The decision was taken at a meeting of the full council in Forde House, Newton Abbot, on Friday. The standards committee recommended that the present arrangements, under which the public have to report in person to find out details of members' business and other interests, should not be changed as the current regime allowed sufficient access. But speaking in favour of change, leader Cllr Alan Connett, said: 'We need to recognise the changes in the world we live in.' He was supported by the deputy leader Cllr Ray Frost, Cllr Roy Phillips, Cllr David Cox and Cllr Gordon Hook, the latter saying he believed in open government. 'We can't take public office and then deny people information about ourselves,' he said. But other councillors took a different view. Cllr Brian Berman said that some 'very difficult' members of the public would 'probe and probe and probe unreasonably' if the information was published on the web. Cllr Keith Smith, who owns rental properties, said his tenants might not want details to be easily available and he was worried that 'mischievous' people could abuse the system. Fears that excessive pressure to disclose interests on the web could frighten off would-be councillors was the concern of Cllr Anne Fry. 'That's the last thing we want,' she said. Council solicitor Simon Barnes said while the Standards Board for England had expressed a hope that councils would use the web to disclose personal interests it could not be done without the consent of individual members owing to the Data Protection Act.
