Plot 6, Temple Meads, as a transport interchange

Thank you for your request for Information made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Your request will now be dealt with and a response will be sent within 20 working days, starting from the next working day after your request is received.

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Dear Mr Goodwin,

Thank you for your recent Freedom of information request.

We are awaiting the return of the Planning Officer from leave (due to return next week) in order to fully reply to your request. I apologise for the delay, however we will send a reply as soon as possible after the planning officer's return but in any event within 5 working days.

Yours Sincerely
Steve Knight
Business Services Group

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Dear Mr Goodwin,

Following my email last week, i have been able to discuss with the
relevant planning officer and can now reply to your FOI request.

I note that you ask for copies of communications, details of meetings,
transcripts of telephone calls referring to such use of any part of Plot
6 as a public transport interchange, between officers, members or agents
of the council, or between them and the Plot 6 landowners, their agents,
and lessees(including First Group) since August 2008. I can confirm that
in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, a requester is
entitled to be informed in writing by the Public Authority whether it
holds "information" described in the request and if that is the case to
have that information communicated to them. In some cases, the Council
will disclose copies of documents in response to a request, however the
Act does not specify that copies of documents should be provided, rather
that we provide the information requested, unless of course an exemption
applies.

Officers from the City Council have been involved in discussions and in
providing guidance to the landowners of the land known as Plot 6,
Network Rail and the South West Regional Development Agency. If you are
able to clarify your request and confirm exactly what "information" you
require, I will be happy to assist. However I can confirm that it is
unlikely that all information can be disclosed at this stage as the
process is at such an early phase.

I can confirm that the City Council has provided the guidance to these
two organisations to assist them in short-listing a preferred
development partner for the land. I can confirm that officer of the
council will when next approached about this site by the landowners
recommend that they enter into a Planning Performance Agreement with the
Council which would define an ongoing process including public
engagement/consultation and stakeholder engagement. It is likely that
this process will enable discussion on potential land uses to take place
and be informed by public opinion.

If you wish to discuss this matter further please contact Nigel Butler
in our Planning Department on 0117 922604.

This response should answer your request in full, however if you are
not satisfied with this response or wish to lodge an appeal against any
exemptions that may have been applied, you can do so by writing to the
Data Protection Officer at Bristol City Council Legal Services, The
Council House, College Green, Bristol, BS99 7PH or [Bristol City Council request email].
Details of the complaints procedure can be found at
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/complaints.

If, after you have exhausted the council’s complaints procedure, you
are still not satisfied with the response you have received you have the
right to complain to the Information Commissioner, details of your right
to complain can be found at http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx

Copyright notice
The provision of information by Bristol City Council under this scheme
does not imply a right to reproduce or commercially exploit such
information without the Council's express prior written permission.
Reproduction or commercial exploitation of materials supplied under
this scheme without the express permission of Bristol City Council may
be an infringement of copyright.
The Council is unable to grant permission to reproduce or re-use any
material accessed through this scheme that is the property of third
parties. Permission to reproduce or re-use such material must be
obtained from the copyright holders.

Your Sincerely
Steve Knight
Business Services Group

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Dear Mr Goodwin,

Thank-you for clarifying that you specifically require information on
discussions the Council has had with the landowners regarding the
potential use of Plot 6 as a transport interchange.

This is a key planning policy to the area and the landowners have been
made aware of this by officers of the Council. Officers of the Council
have provided advice to the landowner and made them aware of the policy
imperative for land around Temple Meads to contribute towards the
aspiration for providing a transport interchange.

In considering your request it has been identified that the following
exceptions are engaged under the Environmental Information Regulations
2004.
It is considered that regulation 12(4)(e) is engaged, as the
information requested is internal communications between officers in our
planning, urban design and transportation teams.

We consider that disclosure of this particular information would
inhibit the ability of the council to enter into free and frank exchange
of ideas and opinions if officers believed that this type of information
would be disclosed into the public domain. We would also consider that
it would harm the council process of providing informal advice to
landowners as they work up their proposals in advance of commencing a
community engagement exercise.

We also consider that regulation 12(4)(d) is engaged as the information
requested is unfinished information as it relates to providing the
landowners with provisional advice on emerging proposals and the free
and frank exchange of opinion between officers of the Council.

It is considered that disclosure of this particular information at this
time would make it difficult or impossible to complete the work because
the process of the landowners seeking advice has been sought on a
confidential basis due to their selection process with preferred
developer partners.

I can also confirm that disclosure at this time may be misleading to
the public as the information is not finished and the details of the
project have not yet been agreed or settled.

Although the council aims to be transparent and accountable to he
public, in the circumstance it is considered that on this occasion this
is outweighed by the reasons described above.

I have discussed this matter with the Planning Department who advise
that they will be encouraging the landowners to enter into full
stakeholder engagement on their plans once they are in a position to do
so.

If you wish to discuss this matter further please contact Nigel Butler
in our Planning Department on 0117 9222604.

This response should answer your request in full, however if you are
not satisfied with this response or wish to lodge an appeal against any
exemptions that may have been applied, you can do so by writing to the
Data Protection Officer at Bristol City Council Legal Services, The
Council House, College Green, Bristol, BS99 7PH or [Bristol City Council request email].
Details of the complaints procedure can be found at
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/complaints.

If, after you have exhausted the council’s complaints procedure, you
are still not satisfied with the response you have received you have the
right to complain to the Information Commissioner, details of your right
to complain can be found at http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx

Copyright notice
The provision of information by Bristol City Council under this scheme
does not imply a right to reproduce or commercially exploit such
information without the Council's express prior written permission.
Reproduction or commercial exploitation of materials supplied under
this scheme without the express permission of Bristol City Council may
be an infringement of copyright.
The Council is unable to grant permission to reproduce or re-use any
material accessed through this scheme that is the property of third
parties. Permission to reproduce or re-use such material must be
obtained from the copyright holders.

Yours Sincerely
Steve Knight
Business Services Group

______________________________________________________________________
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Dear Mr Goodwin

I write further to your recent correspondence with Steve Knight of the Council.

I can advice that Policy CC1 of the Bristol Local Plan (1997) is the main planning policy against which any development proposals for sites around Temple Meads will need to be judged.

This can be viewed on the Council's website.

You can see that the thrust of this is to ensure the delivery of development that supports the establishment of transportation interchange facilities, which can include, bus, rapid transit, water borne movement and improved pedestrian movement along with car parking facilities.

The extent to which the land at Plot 6 will contribute to this policy requirement is unknown at this point in time.

The City Council will continue to advise the landowners; SWRDA and NR; although they have not sought specific advice for some time.

I hope you find this information useful, if you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to call me.

Kind Regards

Nigel Butler, Area Planning Coordinator, South and East Area Development Control Planning Team, City Development, Brunel House, St Georges Road, Bristol BS1 5UY. Tel 0117 9222604mail address: [email address]
Web Site: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/navigation...

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