This document has been classified as: Not Protectively Marked
Jackie Spiller
Date: 27th September 2013
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our Ref:
EIR 13 12877
Dear Mrs Spiller
Internal Review: Environmental Information Request 13 12877
On 4th September 2013, South Tyneside Council received your request to conduct an
internal review of your Environmental Information request reference 12877.
Your request asked for “
Please could you provide me with any inspections i.e. reports
written or verbal that have been carried out by STC staff or contractors in South
Tyneside regarding the growth, spread and spraying of Japanese Knotweed, any
specific sites that have been ear marked”.
The internal review of your request was held on 6th September 2013. The Review Panel
consisted of Mike Harding (Head of Legal Services) and Gill Hayton (Solicitor and Deputy
Monitoring Officer). Paul Robinson (Corporate Lead, Corporate Affairs) and Dave
Patterson (Information Governance Team) attended the review hearing for the purposes of
providing information and answering queries from the Panel, but did not take any part in the
review decision making process.
The Panel when making its decision considered the history of your original request and the
responses provided to you by the Council.
The Council‟s original response to your request is shown below:
“The Council is currently treating 26 areas of Japanese Knotweed. Please see the attached
instructions to the Council‟s contractors and the list of locations.
The sites are randomly inspected in October after the spraying contract has been
completed and again in April to determine if further spraying is required and the list of sites
is updated accordingly. Spraying the Japanese Knotweed continues until it has disappeared
from the area, which can take many years. Any new Japanese Knotweed sites are added to
the spraying contract and spraying is undertaken as soon as possible. The Japanese
Knotweed is sprayed three times a year between April and October, weather permitting.”
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Internal Review Response
The Internal Review Panel carefully considered the wording of your original request and
concluded that officers had interpreted your information request to be all areas of Japanese
Knotweed across the Borough rather than specific in requesting reports and information in
respect of Wood Terrace/Tweed Street only. As such the Council provided a list of sites
where it was known by the Council for Japanese Knotweed treatment.
As a result of your internal review request and your clarification that you did not request „a
list of Japanese Knotweed sites‟ across the wider borough and that you were only
requesting information specific to Wood Terrace/Tweed Street, the Panel requested further
checks be made to ensure your information request had been answered thoroughly.
Further checks have now been were carried out by the senior manager of the service which
deals with the treating of areas of Japanese Knotweed, and I am advised that the Council
do not hold specific „inspection reports‟; however they have confirmed that email
correspondence relating to the treatment of Japanese Knotweed at Tweed Street does
exist.
In looking into this matter further on your behalf, I am advised the Council has already
provided you with a significant amount of correspondence relating to Japanese Knotweed
affecting your property at 1 Tweed Street, Jarrow which has been provided under the
provisions of a Subject Access Request (Data Protection Act 1998). I am advised that due
to the complex and time consuming nature of email retrieval, that this process is ongoing
and officers continue to work on the final elements of this Subject Access Request.
To ensure completeness through the internal review process, I have requested you are
provided with a further copy of that correspondence that is available thus far.
Due to the size of this data set, and the fact that providing this data electronically as part of
this response letter would result in your personal data being uploaded to the
„whatdotheyknow‟ website and risk breaching Data Protection regulations, we have not
included this, however would advise you contact the Freedom of Information Team on 0191
424 6538 so that we can arrange this information to be re-provided to you if you wish.
Information Commissioner‟s Office (ICO)
Should you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of my internal review, you can write to the
Information Commissioner to ask for an independent appeal of the Council‟s decision. The
Information Commissioner is the Government‟s Independent Body responsible for
overseeing the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Please note the ICO will only review cases that have exhausted the Council‟s internal
review procedures. All correspondence to the ICO must quote the Council‟s reference
number and the reasons for your appeal.
The ICO‟s contact details are as follows: Information Commissioner‟s Office, Wycliffe
House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF. More information can be found on the ICO‟s
website a
t www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
This document has been classified as: Not Protectively Marked
If you have any further queries about this matter then please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely
Mike Harding
Head of Legal Services
South Tyneside Council