A weekly newspaper has secured an exclusive by keeping tabs on its local council's Freedom of Information disclosure log.

Paul Francis, the Kent Messenger Group's political editor, broke the story of how Kent County Council's chief executive had intervened to stop the disclosure of the names of senior officers earning more than £100,000.

The story was followed up by several national newspapers and featured on radio and TV.

Paul picked it up after spotting in the council's disclosure log, which details its responses to FoI requests, that the chief executive had intervened following the request for salary information from the Taxpayers' Alliance.

The request was associated with a survey the Alliance was conducting to identify those on what it calls the "town hall rich list."

Chief executive Peter Gilroy had said that he did not want senior staff to become the target of abuse from the public as he had done on previous occasions.

When the survey was published last year, Kent County Council's chief executive was identified as the highest earning council boss in the country.

The survey also identified other Kent County Council staff as among the country's best paid local government employees.

Peter Gilroy told the KM Group that he had been abused in public following the publication of his own earnings in this survey.

He was worried that other high-earning officials might fall victim to similar abuse and said the disclosure of the identities of staff was not in the public interest.

Paul said: "Although this was not our request, it illustrates the value to journalists of monitoring what other people are asking about.

"It also showed how there are often stories to be had from requests that are rejected as much as from requests that are successful."

Since the KM group ran the story, the chief executive has taken legal advice and changed his mind about disclosing the salary information but reiterated his concerns over possible repercussions against staff.

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