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Alex made this Freedom of Information request to Westminster City Council
Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Westminster City Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.
From: Alex
3 December 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please can you provide me with the following information under the
Freedom Of Information Act 2000:-
(a) addresses and rateable values of all empty Residential &
Commercial properties that are owned by Westminster City Council;
and
(b) the names of the contacts for those properties referred to in
(a)
Yours faithfully,
Alex Michaels
Westminster City Council
4 December 2009
Confirmation of Freedom Of Information Request
Thank you for your request for information.
Your request details have now been recorded and will be passed on to the
appropriate Divisional Records Officer for action.
This Freedom Of Information Request was based on the following
information:
Name: Alex Michaels
Address: See email address
Email: [FOI #24209 email]
Telephone:
Request Details:
(a) addresses and rateable values of all empty Residential &
Commercial properties that are owned by Westminster City Council;
and
(b) the names of the contacts for those properties referred to in
(a)
FOI Reference Number: 4700
Target Completion Date: 06/01/2010
Please do not reply to this email.
This is an automatic response to your request, and replies to this message
will not be actioned.
If you need to contact Westminster City Council regarding your request,
please contact:
mailto:[Westminster City Council request email]
Tel:020 7641 3921
show quoted sections
From: Alex
4 February 2010
Dear Westminster City Council,
Please advise on the status of my FOI request
Yours faithfully,
Alex
From: Bowyer, Denise
Westminster City Council
9 February 2010
Dear Alex Michaels
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST
Thank you for your recent enquiry requesting information relating to;
addresses and rateable values of all empty residential and commercial
properties that are owned by Westminster City Council and the names of the
contacts for those properties referred to in. We are treating this as a
request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your
request for information has now been considered and it is not possible to
meet your request under this legislation.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as
a Public Interest Refusal Notice It is considered that the public interest
in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing
it.
The exemptions applied under the Act are:
Section 43 (2): Commercial interests
This information is covered by the above exemption. Disclosure of the
information could lead to action that would affect the public purse. This
exemption is subject to a public interest test. Whilst we acknowledge that
the aim of FOI is to increase accountability and transparency of decision
making for the public, the council is also under an obligation to ensure
that any decision taken is of best value for our taxpayers. In this case,
disclosure of this information at this time would have an adverse affect
on the public purse. It is considered that the public interest in
withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure
and therefore the exemption under Section 43(2) engaged at this time.
Disclosing this information may lead to the increase of squatters in the
empty properties, particularly in light of the increasing actions of this
nature in the area. Estimated costs to remove squatters would therefore
increase substantially and those properties could then potentially be lost
as a result for a significant length of time. These increased costs would
then need to be met through the tax payers money and it is the council's
opinion that it is not the best use of council resources to knowingly take
action which will result in these increased costs.
Empty commercial properties owned by the Council are advertised through
our Managing Agents, Knight Frank, (contact: Brian Nicholas, Telephone:
020 7861 5006) who will be happy to assist if you have a particular
property in mind. I would, however, advise that the Council has very low
voids throughout its property portfolio.
Should you still be dissatisfied with the outcome of any such complaint
you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner,
pursuant to section 50 of the FOIA. The contact details are:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625-545-700
[1]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
<<[2]http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk >>
Kind Regards
Denise
Denise Bowyer
Contract Support Officer
Property
Westminster City Council
13th Floor East
64 Victoria Street
SW1E 6QP
Tel: 020 7641 7708
[email address]
show quoted sections
References
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1. file://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
2. http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/
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Rohan Mehra left an annotation ( 9 February 2010)
This is the response I received on submitting a very similar query.
"Your request for information will not be processed.
This is because the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate limit” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would cost £73,850 to comply with your request.
The calculation for this fee is based on the length of time that it will take to collate the information and extract it from the relevant files. The information that you have requested is held in manual form hence the sum quoted. We estimate that it will take 2,954 hours to search files and collate this information and the estimated the hourly rate set by the Government is £25.00 per hour, i.e. 2,954 hr x £25/hr = £73, 850.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.
You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the cost to within the “appropriate limit”. Please contact me if you would like some advice on refining your request."
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