QUERIES about zombies, ghosts and the book 50 Shades of Grey are just some of the weird and wonderful topics East Lothian Council’s Freedom of Information (FOI) team has had to answer.

The local authority received 673 FOI requests between the beginning of October last year and the end of March 2015.

The majority of those involved issues such as housing and surface dressing failures on roads.

Kirstie MacNeill, service manager – licensing, administration and democratic services, told the local authority’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday: “We do receive more light-hearted requests, such as the number of sightings of ghosts in council buildings and what measures we have in place for zombie attacks.” She stressed that by law, East Lothian Council had to deal with any request and release any relevant information within 20 working days.

The local authority achieved that timeframe on more than 96 per cent of the requests between October 2014 and March this year, with 22 currently ongoing.

Councillor Stuart Currie, the leader of the opposition SNP Group, asked if there was any response to ghosts being sighted in council buildings and, if so, where.

An FOI request was previously submitted to East Lothian Council asking for information relating to “any reports of, or sightings of, ghosts or other ghostly or supernatural occurrences within council properties and sites over the past 24 months”.

East Lothian Council was actually able to submit a response in relation to Dunbar Town House.

A preliminary investigation, involving a team of six private investigators, was carried out there in August 2013.

In the building’s council chamber, there was “tapping” reported around the room, particularly from the area of the old door to the tower stairs.

It added: “There were reports of a shadowy, ‘misty’ shape in the area.

“There were also reports of ‘corner of the eye’ phenomena around the room, but particularly by this door.” The group then moved to the Museum/Provost Robe room.

Again “tapping” was reported and the response added: “The strangest incident occurred after 12 minutes, when the room lights came on.

“The lights had been turned off, but there was an audible click and the room lit up. They were turned off, but once again they came on; this time after seven minutes.

“As this was the first investigation, the group were not aware if the lights were on a motion control sensor, but attempts to make the lights come on by movement did not work.” In response to the zombie request, the council explained there was a Lothian and Borders Strategic Co-ordinating Group Generic Response Plans, which provides an outline of arrangements for responding to major incidents or serious emergencies in Lothian and Borders, although it does not deal specifically with zombie attacks!

Similarly, the local authority has a corporate emergency response, which is designed to help with a number of different emergencies.

The council’s response stated: “Several risk specific plans are maintained by ELC including plans to respond to oil pollution, severe weather and the off-site response plan for Torness Power Station.

“However, there is not a specific response plan for a zombie attack, at this time, but should these types of attack become a recognised threat/risk, a specific plan will be considered.” A TV company had previously approached the council about filming a paranormal show in a historic building. Several months later, the council received an FOI about supernatural activity.

The erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey and the sequels were borrowed from libraries throughout the county. The trilogy was borrowed most from Musselburgh, an FOI request discovered, where the original book was borrowed from the town’s library 57 times. The sequel was borrowed 32 times and the final book was borrowed 34 times.