Dear Mr Carroll,

Review of Request - Gower Tip Information

I refer to your request for an internal review, dated 18^th July 2010, with regard to your Freedom of Information request, submitted via email on 5^th June 2010.

Findings

Your request was received by the Council on 5^th June 2010, but a response was not provided until 29^th July 2010. Section 10 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) requires that “a public authority must comply…promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following date of receipt”.

As the Council's initial response was not provided until 12^th July 2010, this requirement was not adhered to in this case. Please accept my apologies for this.

I have established that the officer dealing with your request had collated the information considered held by the Council (at that time) within the 20 working day time limit but, due to conflicting work priorities, had not forwarded the information on to you. However, I am satisfied that this was a genuine oversight, rather than an attempt to withhold information.

Request for further clarification

You have also sought some clarification with regard to the Council's response. In particular, you have queried why the Council does not hold the licence.

I have spoken to my colleagues in Environmental Protection and they have now been able to locate the original Waste Management Licence issued by the former West Midlands County Council to Albright and Wilson in respect of the Gower Tip at Lower City Road, Tividale, together with copies of three amendments. They have also been able to confirm that the reference to the original licence (SL54) was incorrect as the original licence was issued as SL32. The Council understands that this site is also known by the Environment Agency as EAWML 40803.

Please accept my apologies for the fact that this information was not provided in the original response which was, again, a genuine oversight.

Unfortunately, the records of this site are incomplete and the map defining the site boundary is missing from the original licence document dated 6 April 1978. However, the area was redefined in Amendment No.2 which took effect in August 1979. Unfortunately, a signed and dated copy of that amendment has not survived. The licence was surrendered on 22 April 1994 and cancelled with effect from that  date.

With regard to the determination of the land under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, this provision requires Local Authorities to inspect their land for any contamination causing unacceptable risks to human health and the wider environment in respect of its current use. The Council published its inspection strategy in 2001 setting out the principles underlying its approach to inspection in accordance with the requirements of the 1990 Act and statutory guidance contained in Circular 01/2006.

The Council has taken a risk based approach to inspection, aiming to identify and deal with the worst areas of land in the first instance.   As part of the prioritisation process, the Gower Tip has been assessed in accordance with the approach contained in the Prioritisation and Categorisation Procedure for Sites that may be contaminated. The Gower Tip has been assigned an inspection priority category of 3, i.e. contaminants may be present but are unlikely to have an unacceptable impact on key targets. The site has yet to be inspected under the strategy and therefore no determination has been made in respect of its condition; it is therefore not possible to say at this stage when this site will be subject to a more detailed investigation.

I trust that this information is of use to you. However, you retain the right to refer the Council's handling of your request to the Office of the Information Commissioner, who enforces the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Commissioner's contact details are as follows:

Office of the Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

www.ico.gov.uk

However, if you require anything further, please do not hesitate to contact me in the first instance.

Yours sincerely

Nigel Parr

Data Protection/Freedom of Information Officer

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Governance Services

Sandwell Council House, Oldbury, Sandwell, West Midlands B69 3DE