Sale of public land
A Freedom of Information request to Edinburgh Council by julie logan
The request was successful.
julie logan
3 September 2008
Dear Sir or Madam, When, and under what authority, did CEC agree
the sale of land on Calton Road proposed for development by
Mountgrange, when was this land identified as surplus to
requirements, what was it valued at and how was it marketed.
Yours faithfully,
Julie Logan
43/2 New Street Edinburgh EH8 8BH
Freedom of Information
Edinburgh Council
3 September 2008
Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will
get back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Customer Services.
This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.
show quoted sections
Edinburgh Council
4 September 2008
Dear Ms Logan,
Your ref 1-116892748
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – Acknowledgement of Request
We received your request on 04/09/2008 and can confirm that this is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. As such the request must be dealt with within 20 working days and provided in a format of your choice.
Your request may not result in us supplying the information you asked for as the Act imposes certain conditions and exemptions on the information we may supply. If this is the case, we will let you know. It is also possible that the information you request is controlled by different legislation. Again, we will write to advise you of this. Finally, we may have to charge for the information we give to you. If this is the case, we will write requesting payment before we release the information.
The City of Edinburgh Council is obliged to answer your application within 20 working days of receipt. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your application, or you do not receive a response within 20 days, you can apply for an internal review. The application for a review should be made in writing to the Director of Corporate Services, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG.
For further information on the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, please phone us on 0131 200 2340 or visit our Website at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/foi.
Yours sincerely
Stuart Hutchin
Freedom of Information Team
show quoted sections
julie logan
22 September 2008
Dear Sir or Madam, Please can you ensure you respond my request
online (preferably through WhatDoTheyKnow.com) as the postal
service in our area can be unreliable
Yours sincerely,
julie logan
Freedom of Information
Edinburgh Council
22 September 2008
Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will
get back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Customer Services.
This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.
show quoted sections
julie logan
2 October 2008
Dear Freedom of Information, I am still waiting for an electronic
response to my request to be posted on What Do they Know
Yours sincerely,
julie logan
Freedom of Information
Edinburgh Council
2 October 2008
Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will
get back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Customer Services.
This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.
show quoted sections
julie logan
15 October 2008
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am still waiting for a response to this FOI request. Please can
you advise if there is any reason for the delay
Yours sincerely,
julie logan
Freedom of Information
Edinburgh Council
15 October 2008
Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will
get back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Customer Services.
This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.
show quoted sections
Freedom of Information
Edinburgh Council
16 October 2008
Date 10 October 2008
Your Ref
Our Ref 20151/9/GT/AJD - 1-117077616
Dear Ms Logan
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) 2002
Thank you for your request for information received on 11 September
2008. I am dealing with your request in accordance with the above Act.
In regard to your request for a copy of the Opinion of Senior Counsel I
would advise you that I cannot give you the information requested. The
Opinion of Senior Counsel is information in respect of which a claim to
confidentiality of communications could be maintained in legal
proceedings and they are therefore exempt information in terms of
Section 36 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. In
considering this exemption I have to apply the public interest test in
terms of Section 2(1)(b) of the 2002 Act. The Courts have long
recognised the strong public interest in maintaining the right to
confidentiality of communications between legal advisor and client.
In his decision 023/2005 the Freedom of Information Commissioner
indicated that there will always be a strong public interest in
maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between legal
advisor and client and he is likely to order disclosure of such
communications only in highly compelling cases.
It is in the public interest for a public authority to receive the most
comprehensive legal advice about its proposed actions. An Authority
should be permitted to communicate its position to its advisors fully
and frankly in confidence, in order to obtain the most comprehensive
legal advice and to defend its position adequately should that become
necessary. In my view these considerations override any public interest
that there may be in the content of this aspect of the information which
you seek.
In regard to your request for a copy of the Cushman and Wakefield report
referred to in the report to Council in June 2005 I can advise that I
have located said report but prior to making a decision on whether to
release the report I need to consult with parties named in the report.
Accordingly I shall write to you again shortly.
If you are not happy with this, or want to complain about the way in
which we have handled your application, please write to the Director of
Corporate Services, Level 2/7, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street,
EDINBURGH EH8 8BG.
If, after you have received a reply from the Director of Corporate
Services, you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the Scottish Information
Commissioner to conduct a review. You can contact him at Scottish
Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledkyes Road, St Andrews,
Fife, KY16 8DS. Phone 01334 464 610, Fax: 01334 464 611, E-mail:
[email address].
Yours sincerely
BILL MILLER
Property Manager
Property Management and Development
show quoted sections
julie logan
26 October 2008
Dear Freedom of Information,
The information provided relates to another FOI request regarding
advice on the sale of 'public' and Common Good Land at East Market
Street to which no response has been given. This request related to
the sale of public land on Calton Road. Please can you ensure the
responses are submitted, linked to the requests made.
Yours sincerely,
julie logan
Freedom of Information
Edinburgh Council
26 October 2008
Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will
get back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Customer Services.
This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.
show quoted sections
City Development FOI
Edinburgh Council
30 October 2008
Julie Logan
43/2 New Street
EDINBURGH EH8 8BH
[mailto:[FOI #2818 email]] >
Date: 30 October 2008
Your ref:
Our refs: SD.32/RLW
FOI ref: 1-116892748
Dear Ms Logan
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION REF 1-116892748 [LAND FOR CALTONGATE
DEVELOPMENT] - Re-Provision of Response
1. I am responding to your comment published on the world wide
web on Sunday 26 October 2008 that you had not received a response to an
information request lodged with the City of Edinburgh Council in early
September about land at Calton Road, Edinburgh.
2. I believe that the text of your original request was as follows
"Dear Sir or Madam, When, and under what authority, did CEC agree the
sale of land on Calton Road proposed for development by Mountgrange,
when was this land identified as surplus to requirements, what was it
valued at and how was it marketed."
3. I have looked through the Council's files and found a copy of a
letter which appears to have been sent to you dated 5 September 2008. As
you appear not to have received that letter I am attaching a copy of it
to this E-mail.
If you should wish to make any further enquiries, you may contact the
Council's Freedom of Information team on Tel: 0131 200 2340, E-mail:
[Edinburgh Council request email] or visit our Website at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/foi.
Yours sincerely,
R L WILLIAMS
H\word\FreeinfoOUT355800.doc, p.104
PRINCIPAL OFFICER
(PLANNING & STRATEGY)
Note: If you are not happy with this response, or want to complain about
the way in which we handled your application, please write to the
Director of Corporate Services, Waverley Court, Level 2/7, 4 East
Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG. If you wish to take up this option
you should do so within 40 working days of receipt of this response
If, after you have received a reply from the Director of Corporate
Services, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to appeal to the
Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St
Andrews, Fife KY16 9DS
Phone: 01334 464610 Fax: 01334 464611 E-mail:
[email address]
If you wish to take up this option you should do so within 6 months of
receipt of the response from the Director of Corporate Services.
For further information please phone us on 0131 200 2340 or visit our
Website at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/foi
show quoted sections
julie logan
31 October 2008
Dear City Development FOI,
Thank you for your response. Could you please provide the
information as plain text in the body of an email as it is
difficult to access documents which are in a microsoft or other
software document. This will enable public access to this
information as many people do not have access to the software you
have used to provided the information.
Yours sincerely,
julie logan
Francis Irving left an annotation (8 November 2008)
The substantive part of the PDF says "In response to your request I can advise that the Council has not sold and is not intending to sell any land on Calton Road for development by Mountgrange"
(Sorry that the "View as HTML" doesn't work, unfortunately the software we use does not work on some scanned PDFs, I've made a note of this, and when we get the chance we'll try and fix it or report a bug)
I'm going to mark the request as successful.
City Development FOI
Edinburgh Council
3 December 2008
Julie Logan
43/2 New Street
EDINBURGH EH8 8BH
[mailto:[FOI #2818 email]] >
Date: 3 December 2008
Your ref:
Our refs: SD.32/RLW
FOI ref: IN358594
Dear Ms Logan
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION REF IN358594 [LAND FOR CALTONGATE DEVELOPMENT]
- Re-Provision of Response
1. I am responding to reply of 3 November asking for the material
previously sent to you to be provided as plain text in the body of an
email to enable wider public access to the reply about land at Calton
Road, Edinburgh.
2. This is essentially the third request you have made for the
same piece of information. Section 14 of the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 does not oblige a Scottish public authority to
comply with a request which is essentially similar unless there has
been a reasonable period of time between the two requests.
3. I note that on the 'what do they know' website the previous
response is marked as 'successful' and a pdf image of the first
response can be viewed there. The web-site does apologise that there are
technical difficulties in providing an html version of the image (and
the technical team has made a note of this, saying that 'when we get the
chance we'll try and fix it or report a bug').
4. Adobe Acrobat reader software can be downloaded without charge
so I do not consider the format of the previous response as being
inaccessible to you. You have made a number of information requests of
the Council in the past without mentioning a requirement for the
responses to be in plain text, but if you require one or more future
responses to be in plain text please state that requirement when you
lodge your request. Section 11(1) and (2)(a) of the Act permit you to
express a preference for how you receive the information when you are
making your request.
If you should wish to make any further enquiries, you may contact the
Council's Freedom of Information team on Tel: 0131 200 2340, E-mail:
[Edinburgh Council request email] or visit our Website at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/foi.
Yours sincerely,
R L WILLIAMS
H\word\FreeinfoOUT360800.doc, p.49
PRINCIPAL OFFICER
(PLANNING & STRATEGY)
THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL
Note: If you are not happy with this response, or want to complain about
the way in which we handled your application, please write to the
Director of Corporate Services, Waverley Court, Level 2/7, 4 East
Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG. If you wish to take up this option
you should do so within 40 working days of receipt of this response
If, after you have received a reply from the Director of Corporate
Services, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to appeal to the
Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St
Andrews, Fife KY16 9DS
Phone: 01334 464610 Fax: 01334 464611 E-mail:
[email address]
If you wish to take up this option you should do so within 6 months of
receipt of the response from the Director of Corporate Services.
For further information please phone us on 0131 200 2340 or visit our
Website at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/foi
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)






julie logan left an annotation (26 October 2008)
The Council have a legal duty to ensure 'best value' for the sale of any public assets.
The Edinburgh Councillors are Trustees for the Common Good Assets which belong to the citizens of Edinburgh.
Many questions have been raised in public regarding the legality of the accounting, management and sale of Common Good assets in Edinburgh.
Throughout the last 3 years many questions have been raised regarding the sale of land and buildings at East Market Street without any clear response to either the Community Council or other constituted groups.
It would therefore appear that the information requested here regarding this Common Good Asset is in the public interest and should therefore be disclosed.
Link to this