'The Glebe' scheme - all documentation.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Gloucester City Council,

Please provide all documents relating to the now scrapped (according to Leanne Purcell) 'Glebe' scheme, intended to make better use of the 'The Glebe' space in Barton & Tredworth, with a steering committee chaired by councillor Sajid Patel.

Yours faithfully,

Joe Kilker

FOI, Gloucester City Council

1 Attachment

Good afternoon,

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your Freedom Of Information (FOI)
request made to Gloucester City Council. 

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), we
anticipate to respond to your request for information within 20 working
days.  If this is not the case, we will be in touch to discuss an
extension to this deadline.

For further information on making an FOI request, or to view our online
Publication Scheme, go to our website on [1]www.gloucester.gov.uk.

Kind regards,

Hannah

 

Freedom of Information Officer

Democratic and Electoral Services             [email address]
Gloucester City Council                              01452 396204
Herbert Warehouse
The Docks
Gloucester, GL1 2EQ

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gloucester.gov.uk/

FOI, Gloucester City Council

1 Attachment

Good afternoon,

I am emailing with regards to your recent Freedom of Information request.

I have spoken with my colleague who has been involved in the project and
she has informed me that there are a very large number of documents held.
I wanted to check with you first if there is a specific document(s) that
you would like to receive as I don’t want to send across any information
that would be irrelevant.

Please could you confirm?

Many thanks,

Hannah

Dear FOI,

The more documents there are, the more alarming that this project was scrapped without any evidence of a public consultation being promoted, so I'm interested in any and all documents. Can there really be so many?

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker

FOI, Gloucester City Council

44 Attachments

Thank you for your request for information received on 26^th June 2019.

Your request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).

 

Please find below Gloucester City Council’s response to your request for
information. 

 

Q. Please provide all documents relating to the now scrapped (according
to Leanne Purcell) 'Glebe' scheme, intended to make better use of the 'The
Glebe' space in Barton & Tredworth, with a steering committee chaired by
councillor Sajid Patel.

A. Please see Appendices 1-43. Please note that personal information has
been redacted from the appendices as personal data is subject to an
absolute exemption under section 40(2) of the FOIA.
 

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request a review by

contacting the Council at:

 

* E-mail [email address]
( Telephone 01452 396 514
+ Post Freedom of Information

Gloucester City Council

Herbert Warehouse

The Docks

Gloucester

GL1 2EQ

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint,
you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 54 57 45           

Website: www.ico.gov.uk  

 

There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Kind Regards,

Hannah

Dear FOI,

The city council can't seriously be suggesting that two computer generated pictures are the only documents available, especially after claiming that there are a 'very large number of documents held'? Am I missing something, or was there a mistake on the council's end?

Where are the minutes, redacted or otherwise, for the steering group meetings? The memos to councillors/council officers/Hatherley or St. James' School? Where is the evidence that there was ever a serious intention to move forward with this scheme?

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker

Dear FOI,

Thanks, that looks much more complete.

Unfortunately, appendix 10 and 11 refer to minutes for an earlier meeting, prior to [8th, 9th November?] being approved, so there still seems to be more.

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker

Dear FOI,

Mind, I see in hindsight that I should've clicked on 'Show all attachments' >red face<

The available documents were quite revealing, particularly of one redacted individual, working for MY:UK, as, given my experience of him, the most likely impediment to the scheme's success.

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker

Dear FOI,

I've responded to an email from Leanne Purnell, asking fro clarification on what documents I 'think are missing'. I responded thus:

Specifically, the document implied by this 'initial' (of those provided) document:

Steering Group meeting Wednesday 8th November at 5pm
Apologies:
Introduction – Saj Patel (Chairman)
Meeting agenda
1. Approval of minutes of last meeting

and the document which failed to follow the agenda (#29) for January 23rd, 2019.

29 Steering Group meeting Wednesday 23rd January 2019
Apologies:
Introduction – Saj Patel (Chairman)

Appendix 29 is chronologically the last document relating to meeting minutes, and it's the agenda only. There must be minutes as well. Since Sajid Patel chaired the meetings (a questionable practice for a councillor, but he did the same with a 'crunch' meeting of the neighbourhood partnership, even though cllrs were barred from chairing), he may have copies of the missing documents, and can provide them.

I also note that in Appendix 17, it says that

2. The letter drop and door knock went well on Friday 3rd May with Leanne,
and Cllr Hansdot taking part.

So Ahmed Hansdot appears to be involved with this (and the committee?), and may also have copies of minutes. He has refused to to provide me with such information in the past, though, so I've also cc'd in the secretary and chair of the city council's Labour group, in the hope that they may persuade him to be more forthcoming.

It would appear that this scheme hits the skids, to put it politely, in January. Those involved might like to draw a heavy veil over a year's worth of time and money invested, without any benefit to the community. I would like to know how much this has cost, and presumably that information appears in the last set of minutes?

The dearth of information provided so far seems to merit an investigation into the conduct of those involved. In particular, having studied the documents, I think the names of the committee members should *not* be redacted.

Joe Kilker

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker

Dear FOI,

This is the exchange between Leanne Purnell and myself, following my last email. It doesn't provide any justification to delay providing the remaining documents here, which Leanne Purnell could have done before going on leave, without any of this 'answering queries' nonsense. The delay in responding continues to grow...

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 8:16

Hi Joe

I really do feel it would benefit us both to meet up, go through the documents and I can then answer any queries there and then. My job as a Community Engagement Officer is to get to know our communities better therefore my role is not office based and I am out and about most of the time.

I was responsible for the minute taking and project management of this piece of work, I have documents relating to The Glebe on my computer folders which we can go through during our meeting.

I look forward to hearing from you with regards to a suitable date, time and preferred location.

Best wishes,

Leanne

From: @aol.com
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2019 5:58 PM
To: Leanne Purnel
Subject: Re: The Glebe Project

Hi,

ALL the documents requested would do nicely. If you could have just sent these before going 'on leave', that would have been fine. Now, I guess I have to wait longer, for no real reason.

Perhaps when you return from 'leave', we can meet at the city council offices, and you can show me where these documents are supposed to be?

Joe Kilker

-----Original Message-----
From: Leanne Purnell
To: aol.com
Sent: Thu, 22 Aug 2019 15:56
Subject: RE: The Glebe Project

Hi Joe

I would be happy to discuss your points, provide documentation and fill in any gaps for you, I would like to suggest we meet w/c 2nd September, its much nicer speaking to people face to face and gives us both an opportunity to pose and answer any queries. Let me know what day and time suits you during that week, happy to meet at the City Farm as we have done previously or perhaps the Hope Café on Melbourne Street East on the Thursday.

I look forward to hearing from you. Please note I am now on annual leave until Thursday 29th August.

Best wishes,

Leanne

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker

FOI, Gloucester City Council

3 Attachments

Good afternoon,

I have been asked by Leanne to send to you the attached additional information.

Please see attached.

Many thanks,
Hannah

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

'The Glebe SG Meeting Notes 23.01.19.pdf' provides the notes for the final meeting of the Steering Group, but there are at least one, and possibly more, initial meetings that are unaccounted for. So, 'still waiting for information', in addition to which, the costs of the aborted project, including architects' fees, which have been promised by Leanne Purnell, have not not turned up by email or any other format. I know I can get these by making another FoI request, but it seems to me that was covered by this request for 'all documentation'.

But thanks for not considering 'this request to be closed', as others have, prematurely.

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker

FOI, Gloucester City Council

Good afternoon,

An email was sent to you on 13th September which had attached to it the invoice you mention below and also the meeting notes for 4th October 2017.

Please check to see if you have received these and let me know if not and I will resend.

Many thanks,
Hannah

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

I only had two emails on September 13th. One was from Nextdoor UK, and the other was a request from WDTK to update this request. So I guess the email needs to be 'resent'.

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker

FOI, Gloucester City Council

3 Attachments

Good afternoon,

Please find attached additional information that Leanne has asked me to
send to you.

Many thanks,

Hannah

FOI, Gloucester City Council

Good afternoon,

This email has now been resent.

Many thanks,
Hannah

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

I've received all the information about this I'm going to get. This kind of business should be conducted with more transparency in future, as should tree felling, so that it isn't presented as a fait accompli, or as is more often the case, a failure to accomplish.

Yours sincerely,

Joe Kilker