Direct Line:
01732 227350
Ask for:
Wiebke Arnolds
Your ref:
My ref:
228/2009
Email:
[Sevenoaks District Council request email]
Date:
11/08/2009
Dear Mr White
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS REQUEST: Change of Use
Thank you for your information request dated 04/08/2009 and received by the
Council 05/08/2009.
From our preliminary assessment, based on the current formulation of your request,
the Council is of the view that the amount of work involved in supplying the
information is manifestly unreasonable under regulation 12(4)(b)
of the
Environmental Information Regulations 2000.
In regards to your first question on how many applications the Council has received
featuring a change of use from A1: We categorise our planning applications as
required by the government. The categories are prescribed nationally and record the
nature of the proposal, ie. what the use would be changed to, not the use it would be
changed from as you requested. Therefore, a search by category of application will
not retrieve the information you require.
Similarly we cannot reliably search for applications with ‘change of use’ or ‘A1’ in the
description section of applications as a proposal may not include these words. For
example, a change of use from a retail A1 unit to a restaurant, could be described as
‘Proposed restaurant with internal alterations’. Unless it is incorrect at the time of
submission the description of an application is based on the wording of the applicant,
so there is little consistency in how applications are described. In regards to your
second question, the database does not have a category to search under for
retrospective applications. Searching for retrospective applications under the
description of the application will not give reliable results as there is little consistency
in how applicants describe their proposal.
We would have to search all the records individually. To undertake a search, we
would need to manually retrieve all of the 19,220 individual files to assess whether
they were a proposal for a change of use from A1. I have estimated that a manual
search of 19,220 files would take around 6407 hours. I have estimated that it would
take on average 10 minutes to retrieve each file and 10 minutes to search each file
to establish if the application falls within your criteria. This gives us an allowance of
20 minutes per file for 19,220 records, resulting in approx 6407 hours of officers
time, or approx 854 days (full time at 71/2 hours per day), to retrieve the information
you have requested.
Due to the age of the files some of them will be stored off site and will take longer to
retrieve.
If you are able to reformulate your request again, for example requesting number of
applications in the last 5 years made by a specific agent or company, we may be
able to help you.
In regards to questions three and four relating to applications made by Starbucks or
their representatives, we have no records for the last five years that include
‘Starbucks’ within the description of a proposal, or as an applicant or agent.
However, please note that a planning application can be submitted without the
identity of the proposed occupant being specified.
Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are dissatisfied with the way your request for information has been handled, or
you wish to seek a review of the decision not to release information to you, please
write to Ally Round, Democratic Services Manager, Sevenoaks District Council,
Argyle Road, Sevenoaks TN13 1BR or email:
[email address]. The
review procedures can be accessed via
www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/council_democracy__local_services/about_the_council/data
_protection_and_freedom_of_information.
If, following the review of your complaint, you are still unhappy with the decision of
the Council, you have a right to ask the Information Commissioner to look at your
case.
There is no charge for making an appeal.
Yours sincerely
Wiebke Arnolds
Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
Document Outline
