Chief Executive's Department

Legal and Democratic Services Division

Town Hall

Fabian Road

South Bank

TS6 9AR

Telephone: 01642 774 774

Fax: (01642) 444578

DX60041 Normanby

Mr David Ellis

By email to

David Ellis <[FOI #1215 email]>

22 August 2008

Dear Mr Ellis

REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION EXEMPTION

In your email of 12 August 2008, you requested a review of the exemption applied to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Further to my email acknowledgement of this request, I have received some information from the Investigating Officer.

Your request for information relating to the location of each CCTV camera controlled by the Council was refused under exemption Section 31 (a) and (b) and Section 38 (a) and (b). As explained to you in the refusal notice, these exemptions relate to Law Enforcement and Health and Safety.

The Head of Community Protection has reviewed your request for information and the exemptions applied. Included in these deliberations the views were sought of the Acting District Police Commander for Redcar and Cleveland. It is the conclusion of the investigating officer that the Section 31 (a) and (b) exemption was correctly applied. It is his opinion that a list of the CCTV locations, if it were to be disclosed into the public domain, would facilitate the commission of offences if it fell into the hands of an individual who was that way minded. This is not intended to be a reflection on you the requestor, but rather a factor when considering disclosure in to the public domain.

The Head of Community Protection is also satisfied that an exemption under Section 38 is valid, in that disclosure as to the location of the fixed CCTV Cameras could be used in the commission of offences in areas not covered by the list. The information is available to the public through appropriate signage in the Borough, which indicates where cameras are in operation, but the release of a list of these locations would create `hot spots' which indicate where cameras are not in operation. This could lead to anti social behaviour and the commission of offences which could impact on the Health and Safety of the general public.

I am therefore writing to tell you that the internal review process has been concluded and the exemptions and application of the public interest test have been found to be valid.

I hope that you are satisfied that this review has been undertaken swiftly and that your request for information has been handled in accordance with the Act. If you are not satisfied with how your request has been dealt with then you are free to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner. Further details can be obtained from www.ico.gov.uk.

Should you have any queries about this matter please don't hesitate to contact me. You will find my direct telephone number above.

Yours sincerely,

SUE BRIDGES

Constitution Manager

Assistant Chief Executive: R J Frankland LL.B (Hons) DMS Solicitor

Director of Resources: S. P. Kirkham CPFA

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