Report describes ‘fear and intimidation’ at Northumberland county council

Northumberland county council operated in a “climate of fear and intimidation” so extreme that senior officers and councillors were constantly making Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to dig dirt on each other, a report has found.

into the council found it had become “paralysed” due to the “extraordinary” resources devoted to processing almost 5,000 FOI requests made within three years, many…