County council's Reform leaders block local reporter

Derbyshire County Council's Reform UK leadership has said it will no longer engage with a local journalist over what it called "a prolonged period of concerns".

The council's deputy leader Stephen Reed announced the move during a live interview on BBC Radio Derby and a press release shared later.

During the interview, he said the authority was not given enough time to respond to a story written by Local Democracy Reporter Eddie Bisknell about a woman winning a battle against the council over a fence put in her garden wall.

Bisknell writes for the Derby Telegraph and its online arm Derbyshire Live as part of the BBC-funded LDR scheme. His stories also appear on the BBC News website.

Derbyshire Live said: "We utterly reject this attack on our journalism." It said the council had been given almost 24 hours to respond, and published a screenshot showing an email it said Bisknell had sent to the council.

On Wednesday, Reed told the BBC he accepted his initial claim about the amount of time the council was given to respond was incorrect.

But he maintained that the leadership continued to have a number of concerns about Bisknell's journalism.

Last year, the Reform UK leadership of Nottinghamshire County Council banned Nottingham Post reporters - including LDR reporters - following a row over a story on local government reorganisation. The ban was later lifted.

According to Derbyshire Reform, the decision to end engagement with Bisknell is not an outright "ban" on engaging with local news, but any requests for comment or information from the reporter specifically will not be met with a response.

Earlier this month, both Derbyshire Live and the BBC News website published Bisknell's story about Helene Ball, a Matlock resident who took legal action against the council after it cemented a metal fence panel blocking the 98cm gated gap between her garden and a council car park in April 2023.

A first-tier tribunal ruled in Ball's favour over the dispute after she proved use of the gate since the 1960s, with the authority ordered by the courts to pay £50,000 costs and to ensure her access is not impeded again.

When the case was raised during the live interview on BBC Radio Derby on Tuesday, the council's deputy leader said he and his colleagues had only been given four hours to respond with a comment.

He said the result was a story that was "at worst irresponsible and at best an editorial opinion without all the facts".

In a statement issued after the interview, Reform UK in Derbyshire said it had "taken the decision to end engagement with an individual Local Democracy Reporter following a prolonged period of concerns regarding reporting standards, accuracy, balance and professional conduct".

It added: "The administration wishes to make absolutely clear that this decision is not an attack on freedom of the press, local journalism or the principle of scrutiny.

"In fact, it is precisely because we believe a free press is so important that we believe journalists must be held to the highest standards of fairness, accuracy, balance and professionalism."

In a response published on the Derbyshire Live website, its editor-in-chief Natalie Fahy disputed the four-hour claim made by Reed.

"The council was given just under 24 hours to respond, and then chose not to," she said.

Fahy added: "As for Eddie's previous run-ins with the council, there has not been a single official complaint addressed to me directly.

"I know the council has been unhappy about some articles, but complaining on Facebook is not the correct way to resolve an article you believe to be inaccurate or wrong."

She said: "We utterly reject this attack on our journalism, stand fully opposed to the false claims made about Eddie's and our editorial practices and urge Councillor Reed to retract his press releases.

"This ban is an attack on democracy, on the freedom of the press and most importantly on the public's right to know what goes on at County Hall."

A BBC spokesperson said: "Independent journalism is vital to local democracy, and journalists must be free to question those in power without fear of reprisals. We urge both sides in seeking a resolution."

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