Allotment allocation in Liverpool

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would be grateful if you could please let me have details of the
following as a breakdown per allotment within the Liverpool City
Council boundary:

1. number of allotment plots per site;

2. number of vacant allotments;

3. number of disused or derelict allotments;

4. number (not identity) of allotment holders who have multiple
allotment plots on the site;

5. Of the allotment holders who have multiple allotment plots, how
may allotment plots does each have;

6. number of people on the waiting list for each site;

7. Date that the person at the head of each waiting list was added
to the waiting list;

8. Date that the last person was added to the waiting list;

9. If applicable; date on which the waiting list was closed;

10. Details of the number of persons who have been added to a
waiting list since it was officially closed;

11. number of people in each waiting list who already have an
allotment plot at that allotment;

Much of the information will be readily available from records kept
by Liverpool City Council. I realise that some information is kept
by each allotment society. However, as the function is delegated to
the societies by Liverpool City Council, such information is within
your control and can be collated.

I look forward to receiving your response in due course.

Yours faithfully,

RA Kendall

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Liverpool City
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Allotment allocation in
Liverpool'. A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence
is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/al...

It is a commonly held view that some allotments are run by the
Committee as their personal property. As the Allotment Societies
are delegated powers by the Council, the requested information is
precisely the type of information envisaged by the Act which needs
to be made public to allow proper transparency and ensure the
Committees are exercising their powers fairly and appropriately.

I disagree that the time taken to gather the information would
exceed the appropriate limit. Your calculation assumes that a
physical meeting on site would be necessary. In fact, it would only
be necessary for the Council officer to e-mail or post a copy of my
request to each Secretary and ask them to provide this information.
The only time required would be (1) writing to each secretary and
(2) collating responses. Further, Council officials regularly visit
the allotments. Surely such information could be gathered on such
visits?

The method you have proposed is the most long-winded approach that
could be conceived and is, as such, unnecessary. Unless you suggest
that I submit separate requests for each allotment site, I suggest
that the Council attempts to find an alternative cost and time
effective method to gather the requested information. It is open to
me to apply for such information in a piecemeal fashion but it
would save everyone involved a great deal of time if efforts were
made now to collate this information in one place.

The protection available to the Council pursuant to Regulation 5 of
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit
and Fees) Regulations 2004 to aggregate the costs of multiple
requests relates only to requests for the “same or similar
information”. As each request would relate to an entirely different
allotment site, it is unlikely that the Council would be able to
argue successfully that they are entitled to aggregate the costs of
each request.

I also note that the Council has included time spent travelling to
meet the Allotment Society Secretary as part of their calculation.
The Council does not appear to be entitled to include this time as
part of their calculation pursuant to Regulation 4(3) of the 2004
Regulations.

I also suggest that the information I have requested should already
be routinely requested from Allotment Societies to ensure that they
are effectively managing the allotments as agents for and on behalf
of the Council. It is strange that this does not appear to be the
case.

Yours faithfully,

RA Kendall

Dear Mr Symm

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Liverpool City
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Allotment allocation in
Liverpool'. A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence
is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/al...

It is a commonly held view that some allotments are run by the
Committee as their personal property. As the Allotment Societies
are delegated powers by the Council, the requested information is
precisely the type of information envisaged by the Act which needs
to be made public to allow proper transparency and ensure the
Committees are exercising their powers fairly and appropriately.

I disagree that the time taken to gather the information would
exceed the appropriate limit. Your calculation assumes that a
physical meeting on site would be necessary. In fact, it would only
be necessary for the Council officer to e-mail or post a copy of my
request to each Secretary and ask them to provide this information.
The only time required would be (1) writing to each secretary and
(2) collating responses. Further, Council officials regularly visit
the allotments. Surely such information could be gathered on such
visits?

The method you have proposed is the most long-winded approach that
could be conceived and is, as such, unnecessary. Unless you suggest
that I submit separate requests for each allotment site, I suggest
that the Council attempts to find an alternative cost and time
effective method to gather the requested information. It is open to
me to apply for such information in a piecemeal fashion but it
would save everyone involved a great deal of time if efforts were
made now to collate this information in one place.

The protection available to the Council pursuant to Regulation 5 of
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit
and Fees) Regulations 2004 to aggregate the costs of multiple
requests relates only to requests for the “same or similar
information”. As each request would relate to an entirely different
allotment site, it is unlikely that the Council would be able to
argue successfully that they are entitled to aggregate the costs of
each request.

I also note that the Council has included time spent travelling to
meet the Allotment Society Secretary as part of their calculation.
The Council does not appear to be entitled to include this time as
part of their calculation pursuant to Regulation 4(3) of the 2004
Regulations.

I also suggest that the information I have requested should already
be routinely requested from Allotment Societies to ensure that they
are effectively managing the allotments as agents for and on behalf
of the Council. It is strange that this does not appear to be the
case.

Yours faithfully,

RA Kendall

Dear Mr Symm,

I refer to my e-mail of 21 July 2009 and would be grateful to now
hear from you.

Yours faithfully,

RA Kendall