Noise level complaints

The request was partially successful.

Dear East Lothian Council,

Could you please provide me with a list of noise complaints made to commercial businesses in Musselburgh from June 2013 to present and the actions that were taken in response to these complaints

Yours faithfully,

Lars Winter

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

Thank you for your email. Your enquiry will be registered and we will send you a formal acknowledgement as soon as possible.

In the meantime, you may be interested to learn that, in order to increase openness and accountability, East Lothian Council publishes Freedom of Information/Environmental Information Regulations requests and responses on its website. Please click here<http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/site/custo...> to be directed to the relevant pages.

Shelley Neville
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Officer
Licensing, Administration and Democratic Services
East Lothian Council
John Muir House
Haddington
EH41 3HA

Tel: 01620 827623
Fax: 01620 827253
Email: [East Lothian Council request email]<mailto:[East Lothian Council request email]>

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council are published here<http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/704/d...>.

Join us at
East Lothian Business Week<http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/ELBW>
from 6-10th October

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Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

Our Ref:  2014/991(7068)  

 

Dear Mr Winter 

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004

 

Thank you for your email of 10 October.

 

I am sorry for the delay in sending this acknowledgement but I am pleased
to confirm that your enquiry has now been registered and passed to the
appropriate department for action.  Our response should be issued to you
no later than 10 November although we will reply sooner if we can.

 

We will contact you again in due course but if you require any assistance
in the meantime please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Shelley Neville

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Officer

Licensing, Administration and Democratic Services

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[2]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [3]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [4]website.

 

 

 

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Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

2 Attachments

Our Ref:  2014/991(7068)  

 

Dear Mr Winter 

 

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

 

I am writing in response to your enquiry of 10 October.

 

On behalf of East Lothian Council I am now able to confirm that there were
40 noise complaints made to commercial businesses in Musselburgh during
the specified time frame.  A list of these complaints is attached.

 

We have not, however, provided details of the actions taken for each case
at this stage.  This would be a time consuming task for the officers
involved and as a result, a fee (in accordance with Regulation 8 of the
Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004) would apply; please
refer to the attached “Costs Calculations.pdf”.  If you are happy to pay
the fee shown, please forward a cheque made payable to “East Lothian
Council” to the address shown below.  Please quote the reference “EIR Ref:
2014/991(7068)” on the reverse.

 

As an alternative, however, we would be willing to provide this detail for
four (i.e.: 10%) of the cases on the attached list, without charge.  If
this approach is acceptable to you, please confirm the reference numbers
of the 4 cases you would like this additional detail for.  

 

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.  In the meantime, under
the terms of this legislation, if you are unhappy with the way your
request has been handled, you are entitled to request that we undertake an
internal review.  Please note, however, that both the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information
(Scotland) Regulations 2004 only relate to the release of information. 
The Scottish Information Commissioner publishes the following guidance
about internal reviews:

 

You can ask the authority to review its decision if it does not respond or
you are unhappy with the way it has dealt with your request, for example
by:

 

·         refusing to give you the information

·         failing to reply to you within the time limit allowed

·         claiming the information is exempt

·         failing to give you advice about, and help with, making your
request

·         asking you to pay a fee that you feel is unreasonable

 

For example, if you are unhappy because you do not believe the information
you have received is accurate, an internal review would not apply.  Should
this be the case, however, please let me know and I will try to resolve
this.  If I am unable to help, I will be happy to put you in touch with
someone who can.

 

We must receive a request to review within 40 working days of the date of
this notice.  A request to review our decision must be in writing (e-mail
is acceptable) or another permanent format.  When writing, you should
include your reasons as to why you are unhappy with our response and why
you wish it to be reviewed.  Your reasons for dissatisfaction must relate
to your information request of 10 October only and should be addressed to:

 

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Compliance Officer

Licensing, Administration and Democratic Services

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

 

We will have a maximum of 20 working days from the date we receive your
request in order to complete our review and give you our decision.  In
order to ensure an impartial approach, an independent senior officer will
be appointed to carry out the review.

 

If you are still not satisfied with our decision following the review
process, then you may ask the Scottish Information Commissioner to
investigate the matter.  You may contact the Commissioner at:

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

 

Telephone:  01334 464610

Fax:  01334 464611

E-mail:  [2][email address]

 

If you remain dissatisfied following the Commissioner’s decision, you may
be able to appeal to the Court of Session.   You should, however, obtain
legal advice before deciding on this course of action.  This is because an
appeal may only be made on a point of law, not because you disagree with
the Commissioner’s view of the case. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Shelley Neville

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Officer

Licensing, Administration and Democratic Services

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [3][East Lothian Council request email]

 

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[4]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [5]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [6]website.

 

 

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