Road inspections in Shorne

Dear Mr King

Thank you for your email.

I acknowledge your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Assuming we hold this information, I will endeavour
to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no later
than 12th February 2010 (20 working days from date of receipt).

I will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for providing
the information. Please quote our reference - FOI/10/0049 - in any
communication regarding this particular request.

Best regards

Corporate Access to Information Team, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 696265 or 01622 694261 - Fax: 01622 694383
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/your_council/have...

show quoted sections

Dear Mr King,

Further to your request for information relating to road inspections in
Shorne, because the information you have requested falls under the scope
of the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) and is information held within
the Environment, Highways & Waste Directorate (the directorate), your
request has been forwarded to me so that I can co-ordinate the response on
behalf of the directorate. This is to comply with procedures that the
County Council has for dealing with all FoIA requests.

You asked the Council to provide you with:

* What the time scale is for inspecting highways in Shorne (checking for
potholes, manholes, cracks etc)?
* When the last time the roads in Shorne were inspected for the above
faults and how often they are carried out?

Although the response below has been sent from me, I have liaised with
Kent Highway Services who have provided the following in answer to your
request:

We can confirm that the roads within Kent are inspected on a regular basis
for items such as potholes and cracks. This is done on either a monthly or
six monthly basis depending on the type of road in question. There may
also be times when ad-hoc inspections are conducted outside of the
pre-determined frequency. Please see the attached document for further
details relating to the time scale for safety inspections. (Please be
advised that the information relating to the lengths of carriageways shown
in the attached document are incorrect. The lengths have increased since
the document was published in 2006).

In view of the above, and the details in attached document and the
different categories of road within Shorne, we are unable to advise you as
to when all of the roads were last inspected.

To provide you with comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information in
relation to your request will involve an extensive interrogation of the
Council's records across the County. This type of search would exceed the
appropriate limit of 18 hours at £25 per hour (equivalent to £450).
Accordingly, in accordance with Section 12 of the Freedom of Information
Act, we are not obliged to comply with your request.

For information about fees and limits, please see the Ministry of Justice
website [1]http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/foi-s....

That said, if you are able to provide us with more specific details as to
which road/s you would like to receive information on, we would be able to
provide this information to you. (Please be aware that if you request
numerous roads this again may take in excess of 18 hours to complete)

I trust this response is helpful to you but if you have any query with the
information provided please contact me. However, if you are unhappy with
this response, and believe KCC has not complied with legislation, please
ask for a review by following our complaints process; details can be found
at this link
[2]http://www.kent.gov.uk/your_council/have...
on our website. Please quote reference FOI/10/0049.

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner*s website
[3]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Yours sincerely

Pauline Banks
Kent County Council
Environment, Highways & Waste Directorate
Information Governance Officer
Invicta House
County Hall
Maidstone
Kent. ME14 1XX
Tel. 01622 696915
Fax. 01622 694782
Email. [4][email address]
Please help save paper by NOT printing this email unless absolutely
necessary

show quoted sections