Monitoring Officer Reports

Dear Mr Hardwick,

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 3rd
June, 2009 and is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000. We are therefore required to provide you with a response within
20 working days, which will be on or before 1st July, 2009.

If we require any clarification or further details, we will contact you
as soon as possible.

In the meantime, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to
contact me, remembering to quote the reference number above in any
communications.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Hardwick,

I refer to your request for information which was received on 3rd June,
2009.

The specific information you requested was as follows:

1. A list of all modifications and changes to any planning consents
awarded by the Council following appeal to the Secretary of State since
the current Head of Planning was appointed.

2. Details of all local settlements agreed by Carmarthenshire County
Council involving the planning department with the Ombudsman since the
current Head of Planning was appointed.

3. Details of all findings of maladministration and/or maladministration
and injustice involving the Carmarthenshire County Council since the
current Head of Planning was appointed.

4. Details of all local land charges that the registrar of local land
charges has refused to register since the current Head of Planning was
appointed.

5. Copies of all monitoring officer reports that relate to the current
head of planning of Carmarthenshire Council since the Head of Planning was
appointed to this position.

Having carefully considered your request, it is evident that to comply
with it would entail a very large amount of work. The first part alone,
concerning planning appeals, would take a significant amount of time to
respond to.

To illustrate this point, during the period covered by your request, 718
planning appeals have been decided. To establish which of these involved
modifications and changes to planning permissions would involved manually
checking each decision. Based on an estimate of 2 minutes per appeal
decision, we have calculated that to retrieve this information would take
in excess of 24 hours. This calculation does not of course take into
account the other elements of your request, which would add considerably
to the amount of time it would take to respond.

Under Section 12 of the Act, a public authority is not obliged to comply
with a request if it considers that to do so would exceed the appropriate
limit.  This limit is defined in The Freedom of Information and Data
Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 as £450, which
equates to 18 hours of work at the standard rate specified in the
Regulations of £25.00 per hour.

As explained above, we have estimated that responding to your request
would far exceed the above limit. 

Please therefore consider this email as a formal notice of refusal under
Section 17 (5) of the Act.

If you disagree with this decision or the way in which your request has
been dealt with, you have the right to complain in the first instance to:

The Head of Administration & Law

Carmarthenshire County Council

County Hall

Carmarthen

SA31 1JP

Email: [email address]

If you remain unhappy with any subsequent decision, you have the right to
appeal to the Information Commissioner to rule on your complaint. You may
write to him at:

Information Commissioner

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

If I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

Mae*r e-bost hwn ac unrhyw atodiadau yn gyfrinachol ac wedi*u bwriadu at
ddefnydd yr unigolyn y*u cyfeiriwyd ato/ati yn unig. Os derbyniwch y neges
hon trwy gamgymeriad, rhowch wybod i*r sawl a*i hanfonodd ar unwaith,
dilëwch y neges o*ch cyfrifiadur a dinistriwch unrhyw gopïau papur
ohoni. Ni ddylech ddangos yr e-bost i unrhyw un arall, na gweithredu ar
sail y cynnwys. Eiddo*r awdur yw unrhyw farn neu safbwynt a fynegir, ac
nid ydynt o reidrwydd yn cynrychioli safbwynt y Cyngor. Dylech wirio am
firysau eich hunan cyn agor unrhyw atodiad. Nid ydym yn derbyn unrhyw
atebolrwydd am golled neu niwed a all fod wedi*i achosi gan firysau
meddalwedd neu trwy ryng-gipio*r neges hon neu ymyrryd â hi.

This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for
the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. If received in error
please notify the sender immediately, delete the message from your
computer and destroy any hard copies. The e-mail should not be disclosed
to any other person, nor the contents acted upon. Any views or opinions
expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those
of the Council. You should carry out your own virus check before opening
any attachment. We accept no liability for any loss or damage which may be
caused by software viruses or interception/interruption of this mail.

Dear Mr Hardwick,

Thank you for your request for information regarding monitoring reports, which was received on 26th June, 2009 and is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We are therefore required to provide you with a response within 20 working days, which will be on or before 24th July, 2009.

If we require any clarification or further details, we will contact you as soon as possible.

In the meantime, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me, remembering to quote the reference number above in any communications.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Hardwicke,

I refer to your request for information received on 26th June, 2009.

In order for us to proceed and to avoide any misinterpretation, we would be most grateful if you could confirm whether your request is now only concerned with monitoring officer reports issued in relation to planning matters, and the details of those reports.

Once we have received sufficient clarification from you we will be required to respond within 20 working days.

If we do not hear from you within three months of the date of this email it will be considered that your request has been withdrawn.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me, remembering to quote the reference number above in any communications.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Hardwick,

Thank you for your email.

For the sake of clarity, please confirm whether your request is, as
indicated in your email, now concerned specifically with details of any
"findings of the secretary of state against the head of planning" as
opposed to monitoring officer reports issued in relation to planning
matters.

Under Section 1 (3) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, where a
public authority "reasonably requires further information in order to
identify and locate the information requested." it does not have to
comply with the request where these details are not provided.

I would therefore be grateful if you could provide a precise response to
this email to enable me to clearly identify what information you are now
requesting.

If it would assist, please do not hesitate to contact me on the
telephone number below to discuss your request.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

show quoted sections