Dear Sir or Madam,

If you run an ecological protection scheme for road verges in your
area, please could you provide me with the following details:

a) what protection measures a verge receives when it is included in
the scheme

b) the list of verges covered by the scheme (and their locations -
road name/number and six figure OS grid references would be fine)

c) for each verge, the specific reasons why the verge has been
included in the scheme - i.e. the notable species found there, or
the NVC community present

If you do not run such a scheme in your area, but you are aware
that another body does, please could you refer me to them instead.

Many thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Ms Davis

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Ref:
EIR 2009-010

Thank you for your request for information regarding ecological protection
schemes for road verges, which was received 9 March 2009

Although you mention Freedom of Information in your request, the
information you seek is exempt under Section 39 of this Act and will be
dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs).

EIRs require that we deal with requests such as this promptly and in any
event not later than the twentieth working day following the receipt of
the request; in this case the date is 3 April 2009. If there are costs
involved in providing you with the information or we need to extend the
time because of the complexity of the request or the volume of material, I
will contact you.

Yours sincerely

Information Assistant

Information Team

Adult & Cultural Services

Cumbria County Council

Lower Gaolyard

The Courts

CARLISLE

Cumbria

CA3 8NA

Tel: (01228) 221234

Fax: (01228) 606706

E-mail: [1][Cumbria County Council request email]

This e-mail contains confidential information (which may also be
legally privileged) and is intended solely for the use of the
intended named recipient.

If you are not the intended recipient you may not disclose,
copy, distribute or retain any part of this message or its
attachments. If you have received this message in error please
notify the originator immediately by using the reply facility in
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County Council's network.

http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/

References

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Dear Ms Davis

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Ref
EIR 2009-010

Please find attached the response to EIR request ref EIR 2009-010

Yours sincerely

Nicola Howell

Information Manager

Information Team

Adult & Cultural Services

Cumbria County Council

Lower Gaolyard

The Courts

CARLISLE

Cumbria

CA3 8NA

Tel: (01228) 221234

Fax: (01228) 606706

E-mail: [1][Cumbria County Council request email]

This e-mail contains confidential information (which may also be
legally privileged) and is intended solely for the use of the
intended named recipient.

If you are not the intended recipient you may not disclose,
copy, distribute or retain any part of this message or its
attachments. If you have received this message in error please
notify the originator immediately by using the reply facility in
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Incoming and outgoing emails may be monitored in line with
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All copies of the message received in error should be destroyed.
Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the original
author. This email message has been scanned for viruses, and
declared to be virus free at the point of exit from Cumbria
County Council's network.

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1. mailto:[Cumbria County Council request email]

Dear Nicola,

Thank you very much for your reply, which answers parts a) and b)
of my query. Will a reply to part c) follow in due course? If the
documents you've sent through contain a response to part c), but
I've missed it, please could you point me at the relevant section?

Yours sincerely,

Susan Davis

Dear Nicola,

Please could you let me have an update on progress in replying to
the outstanding aspects of my request?

Thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please could you let me have an update on progress with responding
to the outstanding aspect of my request?

Thank you,

Susan Davis

Dear Mrs Davis

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGIULATIONS 2004 - APOLOGY FOR DELAY

REFERENCE: EIR 2009-010

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the above request.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request.
Unfortunately the information you requested has not yet been supplied by
the relevant Directorate.

The Information Team is currently making enquiries and will get back to
you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Susan E Young

Senior Information Officer

Information Team

Adult and Cultural Services

Cumbria County Council

Lower Gaolyard .$B!|.(J The Courts .$B!|.(J Carlisle .$B!|.(J Cumbria
.$B!|.(J CA3 8NA

Telephone: (01228) 221234 E-mail: [1][Cumbria County Council request email]

This e-mail contains confidential information (which may also be
legally privileged) and is intended solely for the use of the
intended named recipient.

If you are not the intended recipient you may not disclose,
copy, distribute or retain any part of this message or its
attachments. If you have received this message in error please
notify the originator immediately by using the reply facility in
your e-mail software.

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All copies of the message received in error should be destroyed.
Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the original
author. This email message has been scanned for viruses, and
declared to be virus free at the point of exit from Cumbria
County Council's network.

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Dear Susan,

Please could you let me have an update on the current progress with
responding to the remaining aspect of my request?

Thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Cumbria County
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Road verges - ecological
protection scheme'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ro...

You will see from this page that you should have replied during
April, and it is now June. Despite a reminder sent on 9 May, I have
not had a response to the outstanding aspect of my request.

Please could you investigate and get back to me to tell me when I
can expect a response.

Thank you

Susan Davis

Good morning

Thank you for contacting us with your complaint. It has been logged on our
complaints system under reference CCC/03615-09 . Cumbria County Council
is committed to providing high quality services; we welcome all feedback
from our customers and take all complaints seriously. Your complaint is at
Stage 1 of our Complaints procedure. (Please see attached leaflet for
details of our Complaints procedure)
Your complaint is being dealt with by the Head of Culture.
We aim to deal with all complaints within 10 working days from receipt of
complaint. If we are not able to provide a response to your complaint
within this timescale we will contact you and let you know when you can
expect a response.

Many thanks

Customer Services Team
Cumbria County Council
Tel: 0800 121 8800
<[1]mailto:[email address]>

This e-mail contains confidential information (which may also be
legally privileged) and is intended solely for the use of the
intended named recipient.

If you are not the intended recipient you may not disclose,
copy, distribute or retain any part of this message or its
attachments. If you have received this message in error please
notify the originator immediately by using the reply facility in
your e-mail software.

Incoming and outgoing emails may be monitored in line with
current legislation.

All copies of the message received in error should be destroyed.
Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the original
author. This email message has been scanned for viruses, and
declared to be virus free at the point of exit from Cumbria
County Council's network.

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References

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1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Ms Davis

Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Road verges -
ecological protection scheme

I have been asked to review the handling of your EIR request for
information dated 6 March 2009, ref: EIR 2009-010.

I shall look into the matter on your behalf and contact you again as soon
as I have completed my review.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Grisenthwaite
Head of Culture
Adult and Cultural Services Directorate
Cumbria County Council The Castle CARLISLE CA3 8UR

Tel: +44 (0) 1228 227282
Fax: +44 (0) 01228 607299
email: [email address]

This e-mail contains confidential information (which may also be
legally privileged) and is intended solely for the use of the
intended named recipient.

If you are not the intended recipient you may not disclose,
copy, distribute or retain any part of this message or its
attachments. If you have received this message in error please
notify the originator immediately by using the reply facility in
your e-mail software.

Incoming and outgoing emails may be monitored in line with
current legislation.

All copies of the message received in error should be destroyed.
Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the original
author. This email message has been scanned for viruses, and
declared to be virus free at the point of exit from Cumbria
County Council's network.

http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/

Dear Jim,

I would be grateful if you could let me have an update on the
progress with your internal review ofg the handling of my request.

Many thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Ms Davis,

Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Road verges -
ecological protection scheme

Further to my email of 4 June I have now completed my review of the
handling of your earlier request for information dated 6 March 2009, ref.
EIR 2009-010.

First I must apologise on behalf of Cumbria County Council for the delay
in dealing with your subsequent email questions following your original
enquiry in March. In our letter dated 24 March we were able to provide
you with substantive answers to your first two questions but in answer to
your third question

for each verge [please could you provide me with] the specific reasons why
the verge has been included in the scheme - i.e. the notable species found
there, or the NVC community present.

we replied

Our GIS is not capable of linking the access database information to the
site boundary automatically. To provide initial information on each verge
is possible, but to link this to each verge on the plan would take a
considerable amount of time.

We should perhaps have clarified what was meant by a considerable amount
of time. The County Ecologist has explained that to provide the
information you requested "at a minimum we would need to print out a plan
of each verge with its site code, which would have to be done manually -
an administrative task that would take c. 21 - 32 hours minimum".

Under these circumstances I think that your request to provide all of the
information would place an unreasonable burden on a small team of staff
and we are therefore unable to comply. If however you wish to refine your
request in order to concentrate on a specific area or section of verge we
should be happy to reconsider our decision in this matter.

If you are dissatisfied with the County Council's internal review of your
complaint you have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner
whose contact details are

FOI/EIR Complaints Resolution
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
WILMSLOW
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545 745
Email: [1][email address]

Yours sincerely,

Jim Grisenthwaite
Head of Culture
Adult and Cultural Services Directorate
Cumbria County Council The Castle CARLISLE CA3 8UR

Tel: +44 (0) 1228 227282
Fax: +44 (0) 01228 607299'[FOI #8854 email]'
email: [email address]

This e-mail contains confidential information (which may also be
legally privileged) and is intended solely for the use of the
intended named recipient.

If you are not the intended recipient you may not disclose,
copy, distribute or retain any part of this message or its
attachments. If you have received this message in error please
notify the originator immediately by using the reply facility in
your e-mail software.

Incoming and outgoing emails may be monitored in line with
current legislation.

All copies of the message received in error should be destroyed.
Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the original
author. This email message has been scanned for viruses, and
declared to be virus free at the point of exit from Cumbria
County Council's network.

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Dear Jim,

Thanks for your reply. Reading it in conjunction with the original
letter, I may have misunderstood the way in which your data is
held, but it seems as though if you to release the entire Access
database, together with an extract from the GIS giving verge number
and a grid reference for each verge, I would have all the
information I need, and your small team would not have to undertake
the large amount of work you've described in your reply. Would that
approach work, do you think?

Yours sincerely,

Susan Davis

Good morning, Susan.

My initial response to your question is that I don't know but I will certainly explore your suggestion further and get back to you as quickly as I can.

Yours sincerely,

Jim

show quoted sections

Dear Susan,

I do hope you will forgive the delay in responding substantively to your email of 23 June but your latest request posed something of a technological challenge and I have had to take advice from our ICT specialists.

I am informed by the experts that before a member of the public could be granted access to an internal database a risk assessment would have to be carried out prior to the application of new Government impact levels criteria (a security measure). This would take some time (as it would need to be programmed into an existing schedule of ICT security work) and might still result in the database not being released.

I also understand that our GIS is only licensed for use within Cumbria County Council and if we were to release mapping for public use in conjunction with the database we would be in breach of our contract with the Ordnance Survey. I appreciate that you asked if an extract from the GIS could be released and whilst this might prove possible it would still be necessary to deal with the issue above, access to the database.

As an alternative to a technical response to your enquiry, the County Ecologist has suggested that a personal visit by you to our Kendal offices, if possible, would allow you the opportunity to access some, if not all of the information you are seeking.

Please let me know if you would like to accept the County Ecologist's offer and I will send you the necessary contact details.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Grisenthwaite
Head of Culture,
Adult and Cultural Services Directorate
Cumbria County Council
The Castle
CARLISLE CA3 8UR

Tel: +44 (0) 1228 227282 Fax: +44 (0) 01228 607299'[FOI #8854
email]' email: [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear Jim,

Many thanks for your reply. I am afraid that as I live in the south
of England, a visit to your offices would not be practical, but I
appreciate the offer.

I believe it should be possible to release the data electronically.
It seems as though your ICT colleagues may have misunderstood my
request and believe that I am asking to be given access as an third
party to the live Access application in operation within Cumbria
County Council. This isn't what I'm asking. What I am actually
suggesting is that I could be provided with a copy of the
information held in this database (just the tables and data) only,
without any access to the application itself. As I understand the
position, this should be able to be treated as a normal FOI/EIR
request and should need to be subject to a security risk
assessment.

Could you go back to them and explain this? If they still feel that
this needs a risk assessment, could you point me at the relevant
section of the Government guidelines so that I can assess whether
these are being interpreted correctly?

Many thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Jim,

Could you tell me whether you have been able to make any further
progress in relation to my request? See most recent email copied
below as a memory-jogger.

Yours faithfully,

Susan Davis

Dear Jim,

Many thanks for your reply. I am afraid that as I live in the south
of England, a visit to your offices would not be practical, but I
appreciate the offer.

I believe it should be possible to release the data electronically.
It seems as though your ICT colleagues may have misunderstood my
request and believe that I am asking to be given access as an third
party to the live Access application in operation within Cumbria
County Council. This isn't what I'm asking. What I am actually
suggesting is that I could be provided with a copy of the
information held in this database (just the tables and data) only,
without any access to the application itself. As I understand the
position, this should be able to be treated as a normal FOI/EIR
request and should need to be subject to a security risk
assessment.

Could you go back to them and explain this? If they still feel that
this needs a risk assessment, could you point me at the relevant
section of the Government guidelines so that I can assess whether
these are being interpreted correctly?

Many thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Jim,

Could you tell me whether you have been able to make any further
progress in relation to my request? See my recent email copied
below as a memory-jogger.

Yours faithfully,

Susan Davis

Dear Jim,

Many thanks for your reply. I am afraid that as I live in the south
of England, a visit to your offices would not be practical, but I
appreciate the offer.

I believe it should be possible to release the data electronically.
It seems as though your ICT colleagues may have misunderstood my
request and believe that I am asking to be given access as an third
party to the live Access application in operation within Cumbria
County Council. This isn't what I'm asking. What I am actually
suggesting is that I could be provided with a copy of the
information held in this database (just the tables and data) only,
without any access to the application itself. As I understand the
position, this should be able to be treated as a normal FOI/EIR
request and should need to be subject to a security risk
assessment.

Could you go back to them and explain this? If they still feel that
this needs a risk assessment, could you point me at the relevant
section of the Government guidelines so that I can assess whether
these are being interpreted correctly?

Many thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Sir or Madam,

My FoI request, originally submitted on 6 March of this year, has
still not been answered fully. I have not heard from Cumbria
council since early July despite repeated reminders. Please could
you investigate?

Yours faithfully,

Susan Davis

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please could you acknowledge the email I sent on 10 September,
asking you to look into why I have yet not received a full response
to my FoI request.

Thank you,

Susan Davis

Dear Ms Davis,

Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in following up your last
question in relation to your original FOIA enquiry.

For a number of reasons I have not yet had an opportunity to discuss the
details of your proposal regarding electronic access to the road verge
data further with my ICT colleagues. I hope to be able to do this early
next week and will contact you again as soon as I have had a response from
them.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Grisenthwaite
Head of Culture
Adult and Cultural Services Directorate
Cumbria County Council The Castle CARLISLE CA3 8UR

Tel: +44 (0) 1228 227282
Fax: +44 (0) 01228 607299
email: [email address]

This e-mail contains confidential information (which may also be
legally privileged) and is intended solely for the use of the
intended named recipient.

If you are not the intended recipient you may not disclose,
copy, distribute or retain any part of this message or its
attachments. If you have received this message in error please
notify the originator immediately by using the reply facility in
your e-mail software.

Incoming and outgoing emails may be monitored in line with
current legislation.

All copies of the message received in error should be destroyed.
Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the original
author. This email message has been scanned for viruses, and
declared to be virus free at the point of exit from Cumbria
County Council's network.

http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/

Dear Jim,

Many thanks for your reply. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours

Susan

Hello Susan,

Just to update you, I'm waiting for a colleague to return to the office from leave later this week before I can resolve this matter. I hope to be in touch with you with a substantive answer by Friday 2 October.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Grisenthwaite

show quoted sections

Hi Jim,

Any news on my request?

Thanks,

Susan

Dear Susan,

Apologies once again for the delay in responding. For a number of reasons outside my control I have been prevented from completing my research on your behalf until now.

I have been working with my colleagues in the Environment Directorate and ICT Unit to try and meet your request but I have been unable to find a method whereby you could be provided with electronic access to the special verges data and its Ordnance Survey base. The stumbling block is the OS base information held in GIS format. I have been informed by our Corporate GIS Officer that we cannot provide this as it would breach OS copyright.

I was also informed that

"The release of the small scale OS mapping with the verges overlaid is sufficient to identify the general areas in which we have Special Roadside Verges in Cumbria. These have been previously supplied and are held on the whatdotheyknow website".

Should you wish to pursue the matter further, I believe the only option remaining is for you to talk to my colleagues directly. I should be happy to put you in touch with those of my colleagues who are responsible on a day-to-day basis for managing this area of the County Council's work in the hope that some mutually acceptable resolution to your request could be found.

I am sorry I could not be of more assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Grisenthwaite

show quoted sections