Road verges - ecological protection scheme

Dear Ms Davis

Request for Information (Reference 09/FOI/1197)

Thank you for your request for information received on 6 March 2009
.
Gloucestershire County Council is committed to the principles of the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) and will wherever possible provide all the information requested unless constrained by another statute or by an exemption within the FoIA. Please note that some information you have requested may not be provided to you; this will only be information that can be withheld by law. In most cases the reasons will be explained to you along with your copy of any information that can be released to you.

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response as soon as possible and within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, as defined by the FoIA; that date is 6 April 2009.

We may need to contact you if the request needs to be clarified; this is to ensure that we provide you with the information you require.
Best Regards

Victoria Wathen
Information Manager
Information Management Service
Gloucestershire County Council
Shire Hall
Gloucester
GL1 2TG

Tele 01452 425071
Fax 01452 425772

e-mail [email address]

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Dear Ms Davis,

In response to your questions about Gloucestershire road verges covered by
an ecological protection scheme, the information you have requested is
accessible by other means.

Acomprehensive survey of conservation road verges (CRVs) is currently
underway, in partnership with the Gloucester Wildlife Trust (GWT), and the
final designation of CRVs and their ongoing management is to be agreed
between the County Council and GWT. Please see the attached document for
further details.

The survey information is stored at Gloucestershire Centre for
Environmental Records (GCER - which is part of GWT) in their Biological
Records Centre.This data is available to the public on request, so please
will you contact them to ask for information on the areas you are
interested in.

Contact details for GCER are:

* telephone number 01172 309040
* email address [1][email address]

Further details about GCER can be found on the GWT website at
[2]http://www.gloucestershirewildlifetrust....

I trust this answers the questions you have raised but please contact me
if you require any further information. If you are unhappy with this
response, you are entitled to request a review by writing to:

Heather Forbes
Head of Information Management and Archives
Shire Hall
Westgate Street
Gloucester
GL1 2TG

regards,
Lucy Jefferies
FoI and Complaints Officer
Environment Directorate

Tel: 01452 42 5505
Email: [3][email address]

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Dear Ms Davis,
Thank you for your request regarding protected road verges in
Gloucestershire, which has been forwarded to us by the County Council.
This information is actually kept by the County Council as it is their
scheme! However, we also have the information here and can provide the
details you request.
The list of Conservation Road Verges is kept under review, so it will
change from year to year. You should have received a bit of background
information about how and why the CRVs are selected, and the protection
afforded them, from the County Council - tell me if you didn't received
this and I'll send a copy.

The current list of CRVs is detailed in the attached spreadsheet - again,
do get in touch if you can't receive or open the file and I'll try to get
it to you some other way.
The full details of why each verge was selected depends on the survey
sheet, which is not available electronically; these are kept by the
Wildlife Trust, but I can probably get them copied. This could take a
while though! I can try to get these done next week, or, if there's a
particular verge that you're interested in, I've left the database site
no. and file code on the attached list so that you could get back to us
and quote which one you were particularly keen to get information on.
This might speed things up a bit.

Is this for any purpose in particular? (e.g. student project?)

best wishes

Linda Moore

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is a limited company registered in England
& Wales. Registered Number: 708575 Registered Address: Conservation
Centre, Robinswood Hill Country Park, Reservoir Road, Gloucester GL4 6SX
Registered Charity No. 232580

The information and documents sent by this email are confidential and/or
privileged and are intended only for the use of the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient you are notified that any use, dissemination,
distribution or copying of the information and documents contained in this
email is strictly prohibited. Please advise us immediately by telephone if
you have received this email in error and return any printed copies of
this email to us as soon as possible. Our telephone number is 01452
383333.

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

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Dear Susan,
I have found 19 verge register files which are computerised, presumably by
the GWT officer in charge (who is currently on maternity leave
unfortunately). I have a feeling that all the rest are paper records
only; if I can find them I will try to get them scanned, but this could
take some time. In the meantime, attached are the verge files which are
computerised (i.e. the most recent ones). Tell me if these don't reach
you OK.
NB There is a programme for new and re-surveys year on year. The results
are given to us to help keep the digitised map layer updated.

The protection afforded the CRVs is explained in the County Council's
background information - did you receive this?

best wishes

Linda

From: Susan Davis <[FOI #8862 email]>
To: [email address]
Date: 03/04/2009 12:43
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Road verges - ecological
protection scheme

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Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is a limited company registered in England
& Wales. Registered Number: 708575 Registered Address: Conservation
Centre, Robinswood Hill Country Park, Reservoir Road, Gloucester GL4 6SX
Registered Charity No. 232580

The information and documents sent by this email are confidential and/or
privileged and are intended only for the use of the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient you are notified that any use, dissemination,
distribution or copying of the information and documents contained in this
email is strictly prohibited. Please advise us immediately by telephone if
you have received this email in error and return any printed copies of
this email to us as soon as possible. Our telephone number is 01452
383333.

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
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Yes - that's all that I have too!

Linda

From: Susan Davis <[FOI #8862 email]>
To: [email address]
Date: 03/04/2009 14:03
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Road verges - ecological
protection scheme

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Dear Susan,
I note from the What do they Know.com website that you have sent a couple
of emails and not received my last email! I'm sorry you didn't get this.
The road verge files are all in separate folders mixed in with our other
site files, and one of our volunteers is gradually working through
scanning them. She has been on holiday and only comes in one day a week,
but I'm hoping that we can get you some scanned files of the remaining
verge details soon. Do you have a deadline for this project?

best wishes

Linda

From: Susan Davis <[FOI #8862 email]>
To: [email address]
Date: 03/04/2009 14:03
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Road verges - ecological
protection scheme

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Hi Susan,
we now have all the road verge survey sheets scanned. There are a total
of 489 scanned files, which amounts to 587Mb of data. Would you like me
to send you this on a CD? I think it's probably too much to email!

regards

Linda

PS please do bear in mind that as a Local Records Centre we would charge a
commercial rate for this kind of request unless it was strictly for
research purposes. The data comes therefore with a disclaimer about the
status of the data, how up to date it is, and any restrictions on how it
may be used, acknowledged, distributed etc.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is a limited company registered in England
& Wales. Registered Number: 708575 Registered Address: Conservation
Centre, Robinswood Hill Country Park, Reservoir Road, Gloucester GL4 6SX
Registered Charity No. 232580

The information and documents sent by this email are confidential and/or
privileged and are intended only for the use of the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient you are notified that any use, dissemination,
distribution or copying of the information and documents contained in this
email is strictly prohibited. Please advise us immediately by telephone if
you have received this email in error and return any printed copies of
this email to us as soon as possible. Our telephone number is 01452
383333.

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

show quoted sections

Dear Susan,
If you would rather do things via the County Council, I will send them two
CDs so that they can keep one in case of future requests, and send one to
you.

The list of conservation road verges is of course in the public domain, so
there isn't much in the way of restrictions, however there is a small
disclaimer about the status and quality of the data and how it should be
acknowledged. This is just a ReadMe file on the CD.

The files are sorted into folders according to their Ordnance Survey map
square, e.g. SO81 etc. Pages are scanned individually so most verges have
several files, hence the large overall number.

The ReadMe file states that the dataset is from 1989 to 2007; however, I
think there are some 2008 records in there too, added from the ones which
I sent you earlier.

I hope this will help with your survey. NB. I would be very grateful if
we could have a copy of your findings once the research is complete - it
sounds like an interesting project.

best wishes

Linda

From: Susan Davis <[FOI #8862 email]>
To: [email address]
Date: 02/07/2009 21:03
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Road verges - ecological
protection scheme

show quoted sections

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #8862 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[1]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/about...
-------------------------------------------------------------------

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Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is a limited company registered in England
& Wales. Registered Number: 708575 Registered Address: Conservation
Centre, Robinswood Hill Country Park, Reservoir Road, Gloucester GL4 6SX
Registered Charity No. 232580

The information and documents sent by this email are confidential and/or
privileged and are intended only for the use of the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient you are notified that any use, dissemination,
distribution or copying of the information and documents contained in this
email is strictly prohibited. Please advise us immediately by telephone if
you have received this email in error and return any printed copies of
this email to us as soon as possible. Our telephone number is 01452
383333.

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
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Dear All,

The County operates a Service Level Agreement with GCER (Gloucestershire
Centre for Environmental Records). Where GCER holds and maintains data on
behalf of the County Council it is normal practice for GCER to be able to
supply such data direct unless we have stipulated otherwise. So sending
the information direct from GCER in this case is acceptable.

Gary Kennison

Principal Ecologist

Planning & Development

Gloucestershire County Council

Shire Hall

Gloucester

GL1 2TH

Tel.: 01452 425679

Email: [email address]

Website: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk

From: [email address]
[mailto:[email address]]
Sent: 03 July 2009 11:58
To: Susan Davis
Cc: KENNISON, Gary; LIDGETT, Caroline
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Road verges - ecological
protection scheme

Dear Susan,
If you would rather do things via the County Council, I will send them two
CDs so that they can keep one in case of future requests, and send one to
you.

The list of conservation road verges is of course in the public domain, so
there isn't much in the way of restrictions, however there is a small
disclaimer about the status and quality of the data and how it should be
acknowledged. This is just a ReadMe file on the CD.

The files are sorted into folders according to their Ordnance Survey map
square, e.g. SO81 etc. Pages are scanned individually so most verges have
several files, hence the large overall number.

The ReadMe file states that the dataset is from 1989 to 2007; however, I
think there are some 2008 records in there too, added from the ones which
I sent you earlier.

I hope this will help with your survey. NB. I would be very grateful if
we could have a copy of your findings once the research is complete - it
sounds like an interesting project.

best wishes

Linda

From: Susan Davis <[FOI #8862 email]>
To: [email address]
Date: 02/07/2009 21:03
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Road verges - ecological
protection scheme

show quoted sections

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #8862 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[1]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/about...
-------------------------------------------------------------------

show quoted sections

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is a limited company registered in England
& Wales. Registered Number: 708575 Registered Address: Conservation
Centre, Robinswood Hill Country Park, Reservoir Road, Gloucester GL4 6SX
Registered Charity No. 232580

The information and documents sent by this email are confidential and/or
privileged and are intended only for the use of the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient you are notified that any use, dissemination,
distribution or copying of the information and documents contained in this
email is strictly prohibited. Please advise us immediately by telephone if
you have received this email in error and return any printed copies of
this email to us as soon as possible. Our telephone number is 01452
383333.

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email
______________________________________________________________________

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Dear Susan,
I have prepared the CDs now and would rather not waste them. Our email
system cannot cope with large file sizes and it would take around one
hundred emails to send all the data (which is over a gigabyte in total).
We are a charity and only have two full-time members of staff. We also
have a duty to our various Service Level Agreement partners, and cannot
spend many hours on a single request like this - it has already taken a
lot of work to prepare. I should perhaps have said before that you are of
course welcome to drop in and pick up the information in person. Or, we
can post the CD to whichever college or university you are based at, or to
your own address if you prefer.

regards

Linda

From: Susan Davis <[FOI #8862 email]>
To: [email address]
Date: 03/07/2009 16:05
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Road verges - ecological
protection scheme

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Thank you for your email. I am out of the office until 24th August 2009.
If your email is urgent and requires a response, you can try contacting
the following people:

Simon Excell Tel. 01452 425698
([email address])
Vanessa Paterson Tel. 01452 425810
([email address])
Julie Baldwin Tel. 01452 425665
([email address])
or Main Reception Tel. 01452 425000

who may be able to assist you.

Thank you

Gary Kennison (Principal Ecologist)

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Dear Ms Davis

Request for Information (Reference 09/FOI/1568)

Thank you for your request for information for Road verges, ecological
protection scheme, received on 24 August 2009.

Gloucestershire County Council is committed to the principles of the
Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) and will wherever possible provide all
the information requested unless constrained by another statute or by an
exemption within the FoIA. Please note that some information you have
requested may not be provided to you; this will only be information that
can be withheld by law. In most cases the reasons will be explained to you
along with your copy of any information that can be released to you.

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response as soon
as possible and within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, as
defined by the FoIA; that date is 22 September 2009.

We may need to contact you if the request needs to be clarified; this is
to ensure that we provide you with the information you require.

If the information you have requested is held by another public authority
we will transfer the request to them. If you have any objections to this
approach please contact us as soon as possible so we know not to transfer
the request and we will provide you with the relevant contact details
instead.

Yours sincerely

Sue Morris

Information Management Service Administrator

Information Management Service

Gloucestershire County Council

Community & Adult Care Directorate

Shire Hall

Gloucester

GL1 2TG

Tel: 01452 426837

Email: [1][email address]

Go to [2]www.gloucestershire.gov.uk to find information on any County
Council service. It couldn't be easier to find information instantly and
in some cases apply for services on line.

For Freedom of Information (FOI) requests please email
[3][Gloucestershire County Council request email]

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Dear Ms Davis

Request for Information (Reference 09/FOI/1568)

I am writing in response to your request for information received on 24
August 2009.

I have completed my investigation into your request and you were provided
with the information that is held by Gloucestershire County Council [the
council] on 31 March 2009 in response to your previous request, reference
09/FOI/1187. The council does not hold or have access to the raw data
held by Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records (GCER), therefore
the council cannot help you any further with your enquiry; the council is
not able to provide information it does not hold.
As the information was not held by the council you were provided with
details of the organisation where the information is available from, even
though they are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA). I
have therefore concluded that the council has undertaken all steps
necessary to respond appropriately to your original request.

If you feel that we have failed to comply with the FoIA in relation to
this request, you may make a complaint or request an internal review by
writing back within 40 working days of the date of receipt of this email,
and sending us any supporting evidence which you think supports your
complaint, a copy of the Information Compliance Complaints Procedure can
be found on our website at
[1]http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index..... There
will be no charge for dealing with your complaint. Please address your
complaint or request for an internal review to the Information Management
Service at:

Gloucestershire County Council
Ground Floor, Block 2/3
Shire Hall, Westgate Street
Gloucester
GL1 2TG

Or by email to [2][Gloucestershire County Council request email]

I also refer you to your right to take your complaint to the Information
Commissioner, the contact details are:

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Information | Email: [3][email address] |
| Commissioner | |
|-----------------------+------------------------------------------------|
| Wycliffe House | Website: [4]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk |
|-----------------------+------------------------------------------------|
| Wilmslow | Telephone: 01625 545700 |
|-----------------------+------------------------------------------------|
| Cheshire, SK9 5AF | |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

To help us understand our users and improve our service we would
appreciate your feedback on the quality of service and response you have
received in relation to your recent request for information. If you would
like to provide feedback on this process please use our online form which
is available at
[5]http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.....
I will now close your request as of this date.
Yours sincerely

Jenny Grodzicka
Corporate Information and Compliance Manager
Community and Adult Care Directorate

Gloucestershire County Council
Shire Hall
Westgate Street
Gloucester
GL1 2TG

Tel: 01452 426186
Email: [6][email address]

Go to [7]www.gloucestershire.gov.uk to find information on any County
Council service. It couldn't be easier to find information instantly and
in some cases apply for services online.

For Freedom of Information (FOI) requests please email
[8][Gloucestershire County Council request email]

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Dear Ms Davis,

I have checked with the Environment Directorate and can confirm that the council has provided you with everything held in relation to this request. The council has not acquired any further data since 31 March 2009 and therefore has nothing further to provide.

Your comments about the phrasing in the response letter have been noted and we will bear them in mind for future requests.

Kind regards,

Jenny Grodzicka
Corporate Information and Compliance Manager
Community and Adult Care Directorate

Gloucestershire County Council
Shire Hall
Westgate Street
Gloucester
GL1 2TG

Tel: 01452 426186
Email: [email address]

Go to www.gloucestershire.gov.uk to find information on any County Council service. It couldn’t be easier to find information instantly and in some cases apply for services online.

For Freedom of Information (FOI) requests please email [Gloucestershire County Council request email]

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