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Residents pursue legal action over allegations of council ‘spying’
Residents are pursuing legal action over allegations that a council “spied” on their private Facebook group.
The Ledbury Action Group was set up by residents on the Ledbury Estate in the wake of the revelations that four large panel system tower blocks on the estate had structural safety issues and should not have had a gas supply because of the risk of collapse. The group has campaigned to raise awareness of the issues with large panel blocks and to help residents voice their concerns.
The group is private and only residents are allowed to be members.
Members of the group claim their landlord, Southwark Council, has been spying on the conversations between residents. However, the head of housing at Southwark Council said the council was sent screenshots of the Facebook group by a resident in the group to “demonstrate the concerns” the residents wanted the council to address.
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Danielle Gregory, who is one of the founders of the Ledbury Action Group, and lived at the Ledbury Estate before moving out following the safety concerns, applied to the council for a subject access request to find out what information was held on her.
The response to the request included screenshots from the private Facebook group which had been shared between council officers.
The Ledbury Action Group’s solicitors have now written to the council accusing them of breaching General Data Protection Regulation and privacy laws, giving them seven days to respond.
Ms Gregory said: “After everything the residents have been through we just feel completely violated, it’s spying on us really.”
She added: “It seems like there is no anonymity anymore, they’re penetrating every aspect of our lives. They’re a local authority with lots of resources and they’re using them to violate our privacy. We’re pushing for the strongest possible penalty.”
She said residents had shared sensitive information, including photos of their children, their homes and solicitors’ advice.
Stephanie Cryan, cabinet member for housing management and modernisation, said: “We can confirm that some emails sent to the council from a resident, which contained a screenshot of the private Facebook group that they were part of, were passed on to other council officers for information. The email was not confidential and was sent to the council to demonstrate concerns, which the council was asked to respond to.”
