Whitby Town Council is to consider employing more staff following a significant increase in the number of freedom of information requests it receives.
The FOI Act allows public access to information held by public authorities by requiring them to publish certain information about their work whilst members of the public are also entitled to request information.
The council has 20 days to respond to each request, so far this year it has received seven FOI requests, which it says is a four-fold increase over the five year average.
Councillor Linda Wilde says each request can create up to 18 hours of additional work for the councils 1.5 staff.
Councillor Wilde says there have been other pressures for the council's officers as a result of calls for additional meetings.
Councillor Sandra Turner says there are currently a number of additional pressures on staff time, but doesn't think the council can afford to take on extra people.
Councillor Wilde feels an extra ten hours a week is required to deal with the workload.
Following a debate at last week's town council meeting, the proposal to hire more staff has been passed to the council's human resources committee which will look at the situation and explore any steps that can be taken to help reduce staff workload before making a recommendation to the full council.
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