Dear Sir or Madam,

According to Liverpool City Council's website
http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/News/newsdet...

"the rainbow flag - a symbol of gay and lesbian community pride.

The flag will take pride of place on the roof of the Town Hall on
Sunday (17 May) to mark the International Day Against Homophobia
(IDAHO)."

I wish to know under the Freedom of Information Act:-

1. Was planning permission granted to fly the rainbow flag on
Liverpool Town Hall, prior to it being flown?

2. How many prosecutions have been made in the five years previous
to the rainbow flag being flown on Liverpool Town Hall by Liverpool
authorities against any company or individual for flying any flag
from any building, and/or in the same period how many times any
company or individual has been instructed to take down any flag
being flown from any building?

3. For the cases in 3, what, if any, the offending flags were?

4. Merseyside Police flew the rainbow flag from a number of its
police stations for one week from 14/05/2009 to 20/05/2009 without
prior planning permission being granted and without any action
being taken against Merseyside Police or any individuals. Before I
consider a private prosecution against the Merseyside Police, and
if necessary Liverpool City Council, for flying the rainbow flag
without prior planning permission, please inform me as to what
action Liverpool City Council intends to take against those
responsible for flying non-national flags on public buildings?

I wish it to be known that I have no problem with flags being flown
from public buildings provided the required planning permission has
previously been granted and paid for.

What I do object to is people being harrassed for flying national
flags perfectly legally from their dwellings or places of work, for
which planning permission is not required, and being ordered to
take them down.

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Gash

Enquiries to: Wendy
Twigge Your Ref:

Our Ref:
FOI/WT/CW/65959

Mr. Gash

Email: [1][FOI #14023 email]
Date: 03 July 2009

Dear Mr Gash,

Acknowledgement in respect of request for information.

Thank you for your recent correspondence requesting information from the
City Council. Your request was received in our offices on 02 July 2009
and, is being processed in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

The information you have requested can be summarised as follows:

1. 1. Was planning permission granted to fly the rainbow flag on

Liverpool Town Hall, prior to it being flown?

2. How many prosecutions have been made in the five years previous

to the rainbow flag being flown on Liverpool Town Hall by Liverpool

authorities against any company or individual for flying any flag

from any building, and/or in the same period how many times any

company or individual has been instructed to take down any flag

being flown from any building?

3. For the cases in 3, what, if any, the offending flags were?

4. Merseyside Police flew the rainbow flag from a number of its

police stations for one week from 14/05/2009 to 20/05/2009 without

prior planning permission being granted and without any action

being taken against Merseyside Police or any individuals. Before I

consider a private prosecution against the Merseyside Police, and

if necessary Liverpool City Council, for flying the rainbow flag

without prior planning permission, please inform me as to what

action Liverpool City Council intends to take against those

responsible for flying non-national flags on public buildings?

If the above summary is incorrect or you wish to change any details, let
me know at the earliest opportunity.

A response will be sent to you as soon as possible and in any case within
the statutory deadline which is 20 working days from the working day after
your request was received.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent the release of information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and, if any of the exemption categories apply, the information
will not be provided to you. You will be informed if this is the case.

Please quote the above reference number in all future communications.

Yours sincerely

Miss W Twigge (pp)

Information Manager

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Dear Winstanley, Carl,

In reply to response from: Wendy Twigge:

Ref: FOI/WT/CW/65959

#3 Should read:-

3. For the cases in 2, what, if any, the offending flags were?

In the original FOI request #3 incorrectly said "For the cases in
3".

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Gash

Please find attached response

Regards,

Kevin Symm

Senior Information Officer

Legal Services

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

TEL: 0151 225 3007

[1][email address]

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References

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1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Wendy Twigge,

Your Ref: FOI/WT/65959

The answer I received is not entirely satisfactory and my legal
adviser suggests it might best be classified as utter rubbish.

My original FOI request explicitly asked how many times any company
or individual has been instructed to take down any flag being flown
from any building, not only for any prosecutions. At least one case
was reported in the Liverpool Echo regarding Cllr Phil Moffat who
flew English Flags (Crosses of St George), so I would like to know
of any other cases.

As you have declared that no prosecutions were made by Liverpool
City Council regarding flags being flown without relevent planning
permission, I wish to be informed when Liverpool City Council
decided not to prosecute Merseyside Police for flying the Rainbow
(Gay Pride) Flag over all 41, or any, of its police stations, and
the reasons why no prosecutions were made?

I would like to be informed when Liverpool City Council decided not
to prosecute the person(s) responsible for flying the Rainbow (Gay
Pride) Flag over Liverpool City Hall without the relevent planning
permission and for what reasons prosecutions were not made?

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Gash

Dear Mr Gash

I write to inform you that we are now treating your comments regarding
our response as a request for a review of the case.

We will be liaising with colleagues from various different departments
in an effort to get a more acceptable response to you.

If I can be of any further assistance in this or any other matter please
do not hesitate in contacting me.

Regards,

Kevin Symm
Senior Information Officer
Legal Services
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool
L2 2DH
TEL: 0151 225 3007
[email address]

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Dear Symm, Kevin,

MY FOI request is currently overdue a response. As I am considering
a private prosecution, would you be kind enough to inform me of the
findings of your interdepartmental liaison to enable me to proceed?

As there is a time limit between an alleged offence being committed
and a prosecution being made, I would be grateful a prompt reply.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Gash

Enquiries to: Edwina
Hunter

Your Ref:

Our Ref: 65959

Stephen Gash
Via email:
[email address]
Date 4 August 2009

Dear Mr Gash,

REVIEW OF INFORMATION DECISION MADE ON 8 JULY 2009

I refer to your request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act, made on 2 July 2009 for the following information regarding the
flying of the rainbow flag on the roof of the Town Hall on 17 May, 2009

1. Was planning permission granted to fly the rainbow flag on Liverpool
Town Hall, prior to it being flown?
2. How many prosecutions have been made in the five years previous to the
rainbow flag being flown on Liverpool Town Hall by Liverpool
authorities against any company or individual for flying any flag from
any building, and/or in the same period how many times any company or
individual has been instructed to take down any flag being flown from
any building?
3. For the cases in 3(sic), what, if any, the offending flags were?
4. ....please inform me as to what action Liverpool City Council intends
to take against those responsible for flying non national flags on
public buildings?

The Council responded on 8 July 2009 as follows:

`The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations
2007 control the display of advertisements including flag advertisements.
The Regulations are complex particularly in relation to flags adverts.
There are certain classes of advertisements which are explicitly not
advertisements under the Regulations including Class H in relation to the
display of National, County or Saints flags.

There are also classes of advertisement which benefit from deemed consent
Class 7 Flag Advertisements covers developments which are permitted from
the roof of premises. In relation to your comments the flying of a flag by
Liverpool City Council (Point 1) and Merseyside Police (Point 4) fall
within Class 1 Functional advertisements of government departments and
their agencies, local authorities, public transport undertakers, statutory
undertakers and Transport London as benefiting from deemed consent.

In this context the City Council have not (Points 2,3) undertaken any
prosecutions for flag advertisements during the last 5 years.'

You contacted the Council again on 8 July 2009. Your email was treated as
a request for an internal review. Your email contained the following
comments:

`The answer I received is not entirely satisfactory and my legal

adviser suggests it might best be classified as utter rubbish.

My original FOI request explicitly asked how many times any company

or individual has been instructed to take down any flag being flown

from any building, not only for any prosecutions. At least one case

was reported in the Liverpool Echo regarding Cllr Phil Moffat who

flew English Flags (Crosses of St George), so I would like to know

of any other cases.

As you have declared that no prosecutions were made by Liverpool

City Council regarding flags being flown without relevent (sic) planning

permission, I wish to be informed when Liverpool City Council

decided not to prosecute Merseyside Police for flying the Rainbow

(Gay Pride) Flag over all 41, or any, of its police stations, and

the reasons why no prosecutions were made?

I would like to be informed when Liverpool City Council decided not

to prosecute the person(s) responsible for flying the Rainbow (Gay

Pride) Flag over Liverpool City Hall without the relevent (sic) planning

permission and for what reasons prosecutions were not made?'

Your matter has been given to me to review. I have investigated what information the Council holds in response to your request made on 2 July 2009 and now write in response.

The result of my review is as follows.

The Freedom of Information Act does not require public authorities to answer questions posed of it. The Act requires public authorities to provide access to information held by it, pursuant to a valid request under the Act.

I have therefore investigated what recorded information the Council holds, which would be caught by your request made on 2 July 2009.

In response to the four requests you made, I can confirm on review that the Council holds the following information:

Was planning permission granted to fly the rainbow flag on Liverpool Town
Hall, prior to it being flown?

The Council does not hold information which indicates that planning
permission was granted to fly the rainbow flag.

Whilst the Council does not have to answer questions under the FOIA, we do
have to provide advice and assistance. An explanation was therefore given
to you on 8 July as to why planning permission was not granted or sought.
The Council reiterates the advice given in this regard on 8 July, 2009.

How many prosecutions have been made in the five years previous to the
rainbow flag being flown on Liverpool Town Hall by Liverpool authorities
against any company or individual for flying any flag from any building,
and/or in the same period how many times any company or individual has
been instructed to take down any flag being flown from any building?

The Council does not hold any information which indicates that any
prosecutions were undertaken in the last five years for flying any flags
from any building.

The Council also does not hold any information which indicates that any
company or individual has been instructed to take down any flag from any
building.

I note in your review request that you refer to an incident reported in
the media regarding the flying of an English flag. We have checked to see
if we hold recorded information regarding this incident, or any other. The
result is that we cannot locate recorded information regarding this
incident, or any other.

Our response remains that we do not hold information which is caught by
this part of your request therefore.

For the cases in 3(sic), what, if any, the offending flags were?

The Council does not hold this information.

....please inform me as to what action Liverpool City Council intends to
take against those responsible for flying non national flags on public
buildings?

The Council is not required under the FOIA to answer questions. However as
we have an obligation to provide advice and assistance, I wish to let you
know that the Council does not hold information which indicates that it
intends to take any action against anyone for flying non national flags on
public buildings.

In your email of 8 July 2009 you state as follows:

As you have declared that no prosecutions were made by Liverpool

City Council regarding flags being flown without relevent (sic) planning

permission, I wish to be informed when Liverpool City Council

decided not to prosecute Merseyside Police for flying the Rainbow

(Gay Pride) Flag over all 41, or any, of its police stations, and

the reasons why no prosecutions were made?

I would like to be informed when Liverpool City Council decided not

to prosecute the person(s) responsible for flying the Rainbow (Gay

Pride) Flag over Liverpool City Hall without the relevent (sic) planning

permission and for what reasons prosecutions were not made?

This request has been treated as a fresh request for information.

As noted above, the FOI Act does not require the Council to answer questions.

However as we have an obligation to provide advice and assistance, I wish
to let you know that the Council does not hold information which would be
caught by this fresh request for information

If you remain dissatisfied you may also apply to the Information
Commissioner for a decision about whether the request for information has
been dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Their website is [1]www.ico.gov.uk

Their postal address and telephone numbers are:

Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Fax number 01625 524 510

Telephone 01625 545745.

Yours sincerely,

Edwina Hunter

Principal Information Officer.

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References

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1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/