Dear Sir or Madam,

I have downloaded the motorcycle report dated 1st October 2009 from
your website and have the following question.

In section 6, which starts on page 18 and refers to the legal
implications of making the motorcycle charging scheme permanent,
there is no reference to the intentions of the No To Bike Parking
Tax (NTBPT) campaign to undertake a legal attack against
Westminster City Council, should Councillor Chalkley decide to make
his bike parking tax permanent. Please refer to the letter sent by
the campaign's chairman to Westminster Council Chief Executive,
Mike More, a couple of weeks ago, for which I include the link
below:-
http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/wp-con...

Can you please explain why the NTBPT legal intentions have been
been totally ignored in the report? Don't you think that the report
should fully brief Councillor Chalkley of the consequences of his
potential decision to make the bike parking tax permanent?

Yours faithfully,

Mrs Brown

Confirmation of Freedom Of Information Request

Thank you for your request for information.

Your request details have now been recorded and will be passed on to the
appropriate Divisional Records Officer for action.

This Freedom Of Information Request was based on the following
information:

Name: Mrs Brown
Address: See email address
Email: [FOI #19356 email]
Telephone:
Request Details: I have downloaded the motorcycle report dated 1st
October 2009 from
your website and have the following question.

In section 6, which starts on page 18 and refers to the legal
implications of making the motorcycle charging scheme permanent,
there is no reference to the intentions of the No To Bike Parking
Tax (NTBPT) campaign to undertake a legal attack against
Westminster City Council, should Councillor Chalkley decide to make
his bike parking tax permanent. Please refer to the letter sent by
the campaign's chairman to Westminster Council Chief Executive,
Mike More, a couple of weeks ago, for which I include the link
below:-
http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/wp-con...

Can you please explain why the NTBPT legal intentions have been
been totally ignored in the report? Don't you think that the report
should fully brief Councillor Chalkley of the consequences of his
potential decision to make the bike parking tax permanent?

FOI Reference Number: 4459
Target Completion Date: 02/11/2009

Please do not reply to this email.
This is an automatic response to your request, and replies to this message
will not be actioned.

If you need to contact Westminster City Council regarding your request,
please contact:

mailto:[Westminster City Council request email]
Tel:020 7641 3921

show quoted sections

Dear Mrs Brown,

Thank you for your recent email to the Council submitted under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, whereby you requested the following:

Can you please explain why the NTBPT legal intentions have been totally
ignored in the report? Don't you think that the report should fully brief
Councillor Chalkley of the consequences of his potential decision to make
the bike parking tax permanent?

Response

This is not a request for recorded information as defined by the Freedom
of Information Act as it is asking for us to comment, and speculate, on
the author's intentions in writing the report. For the purposes of
section 1(4) this information is not held by the Council and I am,
therefore, unable to provide it.

For further information, please see the Information Commissioner's
guidance on making requests which advises on what can be requested under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and on how to structure a request
accordingly. For your convenience I include a link here -

[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...

Kindest regards,

Tanya Holden
Data Protection & FOI Officer
Knowledge and Information Management
Westminster City Council
101 Orchardson Street
London, NW8 8EA
Tel: 0207 641 6451
Fax: 0207 641 2872
Email: [Westminster City Council request email]
[2]www.westminster.gov.uk

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
2. file://www.westminster.gov.uk

Dear FOI,

Let me reword my question so that it can now comply with the FOI
Act 2000:-

Why has the council, in the legal implications section of the
motorcycle report prepared by Mr Fitsall and published on 1st
October 2009, not discussed the consequences of the No To Bike
Parking Tax campaign taking legal action, should Councillor
Chalkley decide to make the motorcycle parking tax permanent?

The council is very well aware of the intentions of the No To Bike
Parking Tax campaign to take legal action, so I am not asking for
an opinion, I am asking for the reasons why these itentions are not
covered in the legal implications section of the motorcycle report.
A reason is a piece of information, not an opinion.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Brown

Dear Sir or Madam,

When am I going to receive a reply to this FOI? I have been waiting
since 15th October. Please reply at your earliest opportunity.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs Brown

Dear Ms Brown

Thank you for your recent email to the Council regarding the recent
Cabinet Report on Motorcycle parking.

You have asked why the legal implications part of the report did not
refer to the intentions of the No To Bike Parking Fees (NTBPF) campaign
to seek legal action if the recent motorcycle parking fee was not
rescinded.

I have discussed this with the report's author and can confirm that we
do not have any specific recorded information relating to this (i.e. the
report's author did not specifically record his reasons for not writing
particular phrases/paragraphs in the report). Although this recorded
information is not held (and therefore not subject to the FOI Act), the
report's author has confirmed that the legal implications paragraph did
not refer to the NTBPF potential pursuit of legal action as this has not
been confirmed by the NTBPF (i.e. legal action has not yet been
undertaken). As such, there were no confirmed legal implications to be
included in the report.

I hope this answers your query,
Yours sincerely

Catherine Preston
Knowledge and Information Management Team
Information Services
Westminster City Council
101 Orchardson Street
London
NW8 8EA
Tel: 020 7641 3332
Fax: 020 7641 2872
Email: [Westminster City Council request email]

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thanks for your response which demonstrates that the council's
parking officers are totally unable to consider the risks
associated to a course of action they recommend. This shows a
severe lack of risk analysis, which is not surprising from people
who have delibarately been ignoring thousands of objections (a fair
proportion of which from Westminster residents) for the past
eighteen months or so.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Brown