Section 106 growing spaces

Dear Ms Theis,

Freedom of Information enquiry reference ENQ9006.

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 received on 7 July 2010, which has been forwarded to the relevant section.

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is 5 August 2010.

If you have any enquiries meantime please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Dear Ms Theis,

Thank you for your request for information, made under Section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA), and received on 7 July 2010.

We would like to ask you to clarify your request so that we can identify and locate the information which you have requested. Under Section 1(3) of the FOISA, we do not have to supply you with the requested information until you have provided us with more detail in this respect.

1) What land for allotments or growing spaces, both private and public, have you requested in the last 5 years?
2) From the land requested in the last 5 years, what land has not been put into use for your residents to grow on?
3) How many planning applications do you currently have which could be used to make a Section 106 requirement for land to grow on?
4) What targets are in place to increase the use of Section 106 to provide more land for your residents to grow on?
5) What is currently being done in your borough to provide alternative land for residents to grow on?

Q1 - Do you mean land ACC have requested or land requested by the public to ACC?
Q2 - Clarifying point 1 will help with this second question.
Q3 - ACC do not know what a section 106 requirement is? Please elaborate. Is this English Law?

ACC have recently acquired two pieces of private land to become allotments but as today they are not being used as such.

Clarifying these points will help us to be sure we are providing, where possible, the information you are interested in.

Please note we have 20 days from receipt of your clarification in which to respond.

If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Dear Ms Theis,

Thank you for your information request of 7 July and clarification of
19 July, made under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
(FOISA). Aberdeen City Council (ACC) has completed the necessary search
for the information requested.

Can you please provide the information on and where appropriate copies
of relevant documents of:
1) What land for allotments or growing spaces, both private and public,
have you requested in the last 5 years?
Through the Allotments (Scotland) Acts 1892 – 1950, Scottish Local
Authorities have the power to acquire private land for the use of
allotments, where the demand for such is determined. However, Aberdeen
City Council (we) are not currently making use of this power as it has
enough land assets under its ownership to meet the need for allotments.

We continue to discuss and encourage private land owners to establish
privately run allotment sites to help meet the demands of local
communities. We are also in the process of assisting and leasing land to
two community groups to establish two new community run allotment sites
in Aberdeen; Sunnybank and Cove. The total land area for these
allotments will equal approximately 1 hectare.

2) From the land requested in the last 5 years, what land has not been
put into use for your residents to grow on?
ACC have not requested any land from private land owners for the use of
allotments.
With regards to the community sites, at Sunnybank and Cove, these are
still in the development stages and at this present time we cannot
predict the outcomes of their success.

3) How many planning applications do you currently have which could be
used to make a Section 106 requirement for land to grow on?
We do not keep records of the numbers or types of applications that
could be used for requiring land to grow in relation to Section 75.
Please see attached Information Not Held Notice.

4) What targets are in place to increase the use of Section 106 to
provide more land for your residents to grow on?
ACC currently have no explicit targets regarding allotments in our
Supplementary Planning Guidance for our Local Development Plan -
although it does mention allotments as one option for implementing
Section 75, where appropriate.
We are currently working on our new Local Development Plan, and this
will have an explicit target specifically for allotments. The Plan and
Supplementary Planning Guidance are yet to be finalised and approved,
and therefore we cannot state what these targets will be until they are
in place.

5) What is currently being done in your borough to provide alternative
land for residents to grow on?
We understand the diverse values of land for residents to grow on, in
terms of the personal, community and environmental benefits this
provides. In light of this, we are starting to move towards a culture of
encouraging and supporting the use of Council land for this purpose.
This is being achieved through developing explicit guidance in our new
Local Development Plan, and associated Guidance – as outlined in our
answer to question four. It is also being achieved through other
policies and plans, such as our Community Gardens Policy. This Policy
outlines the framework external organisations can use to make approaches
to the Council for lands for these purposes - please see attached. We
are also working with a local social / environmental charity to
facilitate the establishment of community orchards and other means for
communities to practice communal growing.

When I refer to land requested I am talking about land that the council
has requested from private land owners for use of allotment spaces. This
could be from a mutual agreement on an already established piece of land
or a request for allotment allocation on land that is yet to be built.

We are unable to provide you with information on planning applications
as it is not held by the Council. In order to comply with its
obligations under the terms of section 17 of the FOISA, the Council must
issue an official notice in relation to any requests for information not
held by it. I therefore attach an Information Not Held notice.

We hope this helps with your request.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Officer (Acting)

FURTHER INFORMATION

If you are unhappy with the response to your request for information,
or the way in which your request has been handled, you can submit a
complaint or request a review of our response. You should do this by 30
September 2010. To complain or request a review, write to:

City Archivist
Legal and Democratic Services
Aberdeen City Council
Old Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1AQ
[email address]

Your request for review must include your name, an address, and your
reason(s) for requesting a review. You should also include the reference
number for your original request for information.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request for review,
you can apply directly to the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) for a decision. Generally, OSIC cannot make a
decision unless you have been through the Council’s review procedure.
The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
www.itspublicknowledge.info

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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