COUNCIL chiefs have been forced to reconsider paying compensation to travellers for publishing their personal details.

Basildon Council was told twice by the Local Government Association to pay £300 each to three families from the unauthorised Hovefields site after it printed personal information in a council agenda and online, but it refused.

The matter will have to be discussed again at a full council meeting after ombudsman, Tony Redmond, called for a rethink. He said: “I firmly hold the view that all citizens, whether they are travellers or members of the settled community, are entitled to equal protection under the law and are entitled to expect that the council will respect their right to privacy and not disclose sensitive personal information about them and their children.”

Council leader Malcolm Buckley said the authority believed it had acted in good faith by making the decision not to pay out taxpayers’ money because no clear legal guidelines on such a matter existed. He said: “We have expressed our regret to those families for any hurt that they felt.”