Reading and Caversham Flood Defence Scheme

Environment Agency did not have the information requested.

Dear Environment Agency,

Can you please provide me with all the technical data you hold on file relating to the Reading and Caversham Scheme.

This would include all raw data, modelling, all forms of research data, financial and cost/benefit data.

Yours faithfully,

Graham Smith

Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

5 Attachments

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Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

Dear Mr Smith,

I have passed your e-mail to the local customer team who will deal with your request.

The Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations state that a public authority must respond to requests for information within 20 working days, but we aim to respond to all enquiries as quickly as we can.

You can find more information about our service commitment by clicking on the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

You can contact our customer team directly on the contact details below, or call the National Customer Contact Centre on 03708 506506 who will transfer you to the area team.

Please quote your enquiry reference 190516/keh15 in any correspondence with us regarding this matter.

Customers and Engagement
Environment Agency
Thames Area
Redkite House
Howbery Park
WALLINGFORD
OX10 8BD

Kind Regards

Katherine Hughes
National Customer Contact Centre
Environment Agency
E Tel: 03708 506 506
T Internal: 53957
5 Web Site: www.gov.uk/environment-agency

show quoted sections

Reading & Caversham Scheme, Environment Agency

1 Attachment

Dear Mr. Smith,

 

Thank you for your email.

We have now received your Freedom of Information request and we will do
our best to respond as soon as possible.

 

Due to the complexity of your enquiry it could take up to 20 working days
to get back to you.

 

To find out more about the scheme, visit our website:

[1]https://consult.environment-agency.gov.u...

 

If you would like to receive newsletters and updates on any future
engagement about our work to reduce flooding in the north Reading and
Lower Caversham area let us know, via email at
[2]reading&[email address]

 

Kind regards,

Artemis

 

On behalf of

The Project Team

Reading & Caversham Scheme

Email: reading&[email address]

 

 

 

From: Enquiries_THM
Sent: 06 June 2019 16:07
To: Reading & Caversham Scheme
<reading&[email address]>
Subject: THM 129106 LB FoI request

 

Hello

 

Please see customer’s enquiry below.

 

Many thanks

Laura

 

Laura Buschini

Customers and Engagement Officer

Customers and Engagement
Environment Agency
Thames Area
Red Kite House, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

 

[3][email address]

 

[4]Email_footer_419x75 copy

 

 

 

From: Cowell, Lydia G
Sent: 06 June 2019 15:43
To: Buschini, Laura <[5][email address]>
Subject: RE: THM 129106 LB FW: 190516/keh15FW: Freedom of Information
request - Reading and Caversham Flood Defence Scheme

 

Hi Laura,

 

For future reference please send all enquiries about the Reading and
Caversham scheme to
[6][email address].

 

Thanks,

Lydia

From: Enquiries_THM
Sent: 31 May 2019 16:35
To: Thames West, Mapping & Data
<[7][email address]>
Subject: THM 129106 LB FW: 190516/keh15FW: Freedom of Information request
- Reading and Caversham Flood Defence Scheme

 

Hello team,

 

I work in Customers and Engagement at KSL and am currently trying to help
C&E Thames with some of their enquiries.  Please see customer’s enquiry
below.

 

Due date: 10 June 2019.

 

Kind Regards

 

Laura

 

Laura Buschini

Customers and Engagement Officer

Customers and Engagement
Environment Agency
Thames Area
Red Kite House, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

 

[8][email address]

 

[9]Email_footer_419x75 copy

 

 

 

 

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Enquiries_THM, Environment Agency

1 Attachment

Dear Graham

RE: THM 129106 LB Freedom of Information request - Reading and Caversham
Flood Defence Scheme

 

Thank you for your enquiry which was received on 14 May 2019.

 

We respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

 

 

We have forwarded your request to the Reading & Caversham Scheme at this
email address [1]reading&[email address]

 

They are currently compiling available information for a response to your
request.  They willl send this to you as soon as possible.

 

Any queries you may have please email them directly.

 

 

Please refer to the [2]Open Government Licence which explains the
permitted use of this information.

 

Please be aware that many of our datasets are now available online. Simply
visit [3]environment.data.gov.uk

 

If you have any further queries or if you’d like us to review the
information we have provided under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 please contact us within two
months and we will happily do this for you.

 

We would be really grateful if you could spare five minutes to help us
improve our service. Please click on the link below and fill in our survey
– we use every piece of feedback we
receive:[4]http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Environme...

 

Kind regards

 

 

Customers and Engagement Team

Customers and Engagement
Environment Agency
Thames Area
Red Kite House, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

 

[5][email address]

 

[6]Email_footer_419x75 copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Enquiries_THM, Environment Agency

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Smith

 

Thank you for getting in touch about our ongoing work to investigate how
to reduce flooding in north Reading and Lower Caversham.  We respond to
requests for recorded information that we hold under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the associated Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIR).

 

 

We have been working with residents groups and other members of the
community to answer questions around much of the information you have
requested below. At this stage in our project we are looking at ways to
reduce the impact of flooding to the largest possible number of people. A
lot of the information you have requested is incomplete, or is subject to
change, as we gather more information and feedback from the community.

 

We are producing a document which provides information about the appraisal
process we follow. This takes into account both cost benefit and technical
feasibility.

 

As mentioned previously we are still gathering information so raw data is
not complete or available at this stage. Detailed modelling of the fluvial
(river) floodplain is underway to assess both the benefit and impacts of
the potential alignments which we shared in December 2018. This work can
be shared once it has been independently reviewed.

 

If you have specific concerns you would like to discuss with us then we
will be able to give you an indication of what information will be
available and the approximate date we hope to be able to provide it.

 

Kind Regards

 

Customers and Engagement Team

Customers and Engagement
Environment Agency
Thames Area
Red Kite House, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

 

[1][email address]

 

[2]Email_footer_419x75 copy

 

 

 

 

From: Enquiries_THM
Sent: 12 June 2019 16:32
To: '[FOI #576415 email]'
<[FOI #576415 email]>
Subject: THM 129106 LB FW: 190516/keh15FW: Freedom of Information request
- Reading and Caversham Flood Defence Scheme

 

Dear Graham

RE: THM 129106 LB Freedom of Information request - Reading and Caversham
Flood Defence Scheme

 

Thank you for your enquiry which was received on 14 May 2019.

 

We respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

 

 

We have forwarded your request to the Reading & Caversham Scheme at this
email address [3]reading&[email address]

 

They are currently compiling available information for a response to your
request.  They willl send this to you as soon as possible.

 

Any queries you may have please email them directly.

 

 

Please refer to the [4]Open Government Licence which explains the
permitted use of this information.

 

Please be aware that many of our datasets are now available online. Simply
visit [5]environment.data.gov.uk

 

If you have any further queries or if you’d like us to review the
information we have provided under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 please contact us within two
months and we will happily do this for you.

 

We would be really grateful if you could spare five minutes to help us
improve our service. Please click on the link below and fill in our survey
– we use every piece of feedback we
receive:[6]http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Environme...

 

Kind regards

 

 

Customers and Engagement Team

Customers and Engagement
Environment Agency
Thames Area
Red Kite House, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

 

[7][email address]

 

[8]Email_footer_419x75 copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Enquiries_THM,

I'm sorry but that's not a legitimate response to an FOI request.

You said: "A lot of the information you have requested is incomplete, or is subject to
change, as we gather more information and feedback from the community" but you've still not given me that information or explained why.

You are required in law to provide this information unless you have a specific exemption within the FOIA.

Can you please review this as soon as possible and supply what I have asked for.

To illustrate the point, this should include (but not be limited to):

1- The technical hydraulic/hydological report on the details of those options, including Do Minimum and Do Nothing options.
2- Economical assessment of the proposed options
3- Hydraulic model outputs from those options in form of Geographic Information System format:
3.1 Maximum flood level and depth grid for various probabilities (return periods) (in raster format: e.g. GeoTIF or ASCII grids).
3.2 Flow and water level hydrographs for various options and return periods at key locations
3.3 Numerical model validation checks (e.g mass balance report) for each option"

Yours sincerely,

Graham Smith

Enquiries_THM, Environment Agency

1 Attachment

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D14A22.70FC2010

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Thank you – The Environment Agency has received your email.

 

For general enquiries and complaints, we currently aim to respond within
20 working days of receiving your enquiry.

 

For information requests which fall under either the ‘Freedom of
Information Act’ or ’Environmental Information Regulations’ we will aim to
you within 20 working days.  You may wish to look at [2]www.data.gov.uk to
see if the data you have requested is available online.

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

For further information on what you can expect from us and our full
service commitment to you, please click this link;
[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

 

Environmental Incident

 

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc then please call our freephone
24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:
[4]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

 

Kind regards 

 

Thames Customers and Engagement Team 

 

Direct dial 02030259804

Direct email [5][email address]

 

 

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Dear Enquiries_THM,

I’m still waiting for a reply to my request for a review. Please confirm my request is being reviewed and when I can expect a response.

Yours sincerely,

Graham Smith

Enquiries_THM, Environment Agency

1 Attachment

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D14A22.70FC2010

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Thank you – The Environment Agency has received your email.

 

For general enquiries and complaints, we currently aim to respond within
20 working days of receiving your enquiry.

 

For information requests which fall under either the ‘Freedom of
Information Act’ or ’Environmental Information Regulations’ we will aim to
you within 20 working days.  You may wish to look at [2]www.data.gov.uk to
see if the data you have requested is available online.

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

For further information on what you can expect from us and our full
service commitment to you, please click this link;
[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

 

Environmental Incident

 

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc then please call our freephone
24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:
[4]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

 

Kind regards 

 

Thames Customers and Engagement Team 

 

Direct dial 02030259804

Direct email [5][email address]

 

 

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Dear Enquiries_THM,

You have still not responded to my FOI request or my request for a review on the basis of your earlier email.

Can you please send me the information I have requested or a legitimate reason not to (as defined by the FOI Act) by the end of tomorrow, or I will report the matter to the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,

Graham Smith

Enquiries_THM, Environment Agency

1 Attachment

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D14A22.70FC2010

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Thank you – The Environment Agency has received your email.

 

For general enquiries and complaints, we currently aim to respond within
20 working days of receiving your enquiry.

 

For information requests which fall under either the ‘Freedom of
Information Act’ or ’Environmental Information Regulations’ we will aim to
you within 20 working days.  You may wish to look at [2]www.data.gov.uk to
see if the data you have requested is available online.

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

For further information on what you can expect from us and our full
service commitment to you, please click this link;
[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

 

Environmental Incident

 

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc then please call our freephone
24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:
[4]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

 

Kind regards 

 

Thames Customers and Engagement Team 

 

Direct dial 02030259804

Direct email [5][email address]

 

 

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else.

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Enquiries_THM, Environment Agency

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Smith

THM133664

Thank you for your request received on 2nd July 2019 for further
information about the Reading and Caversham flood alleviation scheme.

With apologies for the delay please find attached 2 reports detailing
options and economic appraisal for this project, as outlined in your
points 1 and 2.

You will note that both reports are dated January 2019. Using the
additional information which we have gathered from site investigations and
ongoing engagement we will update these documents and will be happy to
share these with you when they are available.

Please be aware that we have redacted personal details of some individuals
involved in creating the reports. These names have been replaced with
XXXXXX.

The Environment Agency is not able to disclose this information as this is
personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and to disclose it
would breach the First Data Protection Principle of the DPA.

This information is therefore exempt due to Section 40(2) of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, which explains that:

To the extent that the information requested includes personal data of
which the applicant is not the data subject and as respects which either
the first or second condition in section 40(3) is satisfied, a public
authority shall not disclose personal data.

 

The ‘first condition’ referred to above is further explained in section
40(3)(a), that is, if disclosure of the personal data requested would
breach any of the Data Protection Principles then it is exempt.

The First Data Protection Principle requires that we are fair to
individuals when we collect and use their personal data.  In this case it
would be unfair to disclose information relating to an identifiable
individual as such individuals have a reasonable expectation that any
information held about them by the Environment Agency would remain
confidential.

We are unable to provide you with the following at this time:

Hydraulic model outputs from those options in form of Geographic
Information System format:

Maximum flood level and depth grid for various probabilities (return
periods) (in raster format: e.g. GeoTIF or ASCII grids).

Flow and water level hydrographs for various options and return periods at
key locations

Numerical model validation checks (e.g mass balance report) for each
option

Technical hydraulic/hydological report

 

When we are carrying out project appraisals technical assessments,
including those requested, are often iterative and become superseded
quickly. At various stages in the project cycle decisions on project
viability are taken supported by for example hydraulic modelling. We
sometimes use existing models and make minor amendments to them to inform
this decision making. This is not necessarily accompanied by full
reporting. Modelling of the Thames through Reading was being undertaken by
the Environment Agency outside this project. That work was delivered in
Spring 2019 and has been amended by our engineering consultants, Jacobs,
to ensure it is suitable to assess site specific benefits and impacts for
this project. This modelling is currently being independently reviewed and
will be available, along with supporting reporting as requested, later
this year. 

As a public body we are required under the Freedom of Information
Act/Environmental Information Regulations to give reasons for this
refusal.  We also need to show that we have considered the Public Interest
balance between refusal and disclosure.  You can find the details in the
appendix attached.

The exceptions that apply to the withheld information are:

EIR Regulation 12(4)(d) applies because the request relates to material
which is still in the course of completion, to unfinished documents or to
incomplete data. To release information at this stage would be misleading.
We anticipate that the information (detailed modelling) should be
completed by about October 2019.

The Public Interest Test 

We have weighed the public interest factors in favour of maintaining the
exceptions and find that they outweigh the public interest factors in
disclosing the information. In carrying out the public interest test we
have considered: 

1. Factors in favour of releasing the information:

There is a general presumption that information held by the Environment
Agency is provided to ensure transparency, accountability and in this
instance contribute to the ability of the public to be part of a decision
making process. 

2. Factors in favour of withholding the information:

Release of draft or incomplete information has potential to be misleading
or cause alarm. Modelling to support this project is nearing completion
and will be provided, along with other technical documents, in the near
future.

As indicated, upon assessing the factors in the public interest test, we
have assessed that in relation to the incomplete information and in
relation to the potential misleading nature of this information we find
that the factors in favour of withholding information outweigh the public
interest factors in disclosing the information.

 

I hope that we have correctly interpreted your request.  Please refer to
our Open Government Licence for the permitted use of the supplied data:

[1]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

If you are not satisfied with our response you can contact us within 2
calendar months to ask for our decision to be reviewed. We shall review
our response to your request and give you our decision in writing within
40 working days.

If you are still not satisfied following this, you can raise a concern
with the Information Commissioner, who is the statutory regulator for
Freedom of Information and the Environmental Information Regulations.  The
contact details are:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Website: [2]http://ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

Philip Winfield

Customers and Engagement Officer

Environment Agency - Thames

Email: [3][email address]

 

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else.

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We may have to make this message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business purposes.
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