[email address]

Dear Ms Davis

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

This department logged a request in quarter 2 of 2009 requesting: details of empty commercial properties.

This department recently undertook an audit and noted you may not have received a formal response to your request.

I would like to take the opportunity to firstly apologise if you have not received our reply and to set out below our response to your request.

Under section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 you are entitled to be informed in writing as to whether the Council holds the information specified in your request and, if that is the case, to have the information communicated to you unless only of the statutory exemptions apply. The Council does not have a list of empty properties. In order to provide a list the Council would need to specify extract reports, engage computer consultants to write extracts programmes against nearly 10,000 Business Rate properties, and check and analyse the extract reports. The cost of this exercise is in excess of that is reasonable under the FOI provisions, Section 12.

In addition your requested is refused under Section 31 of the Act. This section provides that information is exempt from disclosure if such disclosure would be likely to prejudice “the prevention or detection of crime”. It is the Council's view that the prevention or detection of crime includes fraud that is committed from empty properties and the physical security of buildings. This is a qualified exemption where the public interest test needs to be applied. After careful consideration the Council does not believe it to be in the public interest to release the information to you. This is because the danger of releasing details of empty properties may lead to cases of fraud, burglary, arson or squatting and this outweighs any public interest in releasing this information.

Details of rateable values are held on the Valuation Office Agency website http://www.voa.gov.uk.

You are free to use the information supplied for your own use, including for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information, issuing copies to the public or marketing will require our permission as copyright holder. If you intend to re-use this information in the manner described above you must apply to us.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, please follow the Freedom of Information complaints process: http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/council/freedom_of_information/appeal.html

Your request for an internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of your receipt of this response. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at our discretion.

If you are not satisfied with the results of the internal appeal you can then complain to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF 
Telephone: 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Mrs Gabay

Information & Data Compliance Officer

Ealing Council

Perceval House 3:SE

14-16 Uxbridge Road

London W5 2HL

Tel: (020) 8825 5000

Email: [Ealing Borough Council request email]