We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are J. N. Kitchen please sign in and let everyone know.

Provision of Allotments / Allotment Provision and Details

We're waiting for J. N. Kitchen to read a recent response and update the status.

Dear Stockton on Tees Council,

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from yourselves relating to allotments and the provision of space for allotments.

Having recently been informed that the waiting list for an allotment in many council areas is now unmanageable I am requesting some information from your authority.
In a response to a question in 2007 to central government they indicated that;
"If the council decides that there is a demand for allotments; they have a statutory duty to provide a sufficient number of plots. In terms of the duty to provide under section 23 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908 there is no time limit for provision once it has been established that there is a demand"

1. So my first question relating to the statement above is, what is the current backlog of demand for an allotment in the borough of Stockton on Tees. Please provide this split by allotment or site and in total. For clarity I mean the number of requests for an allotment by new prospective tenants which have not been offered an allotment.
1a. Please also provide the number of allotments currently under offer.

2. Furthermore, what plans do the council have to create more space for allotments.

3. What is the average waiting time from request for an allotment to offer of a place.

4. Is your number of requests for an allotment what you as a council would deem manageable, or is the situation unsustainable eg. there are more requests than total allotments available.

5. How many requests for allotments were received within the following calendar years; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to date

6. How many requests for allotments have been cancelled or withdrawn by the requestor in the following calendar years; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to date
6a. How many offers of allotments were made (or if easier the number of allotments becoming available) in the following calendar years; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to date

7. Please could you provide copies of any rules or regulations supplied to allotment holders upon acceptance of a plot.
7a. Are there restrictions on who can apply for an allotment within your council area.

8. Please could you supply a breakdown of the costs for first time allotment tenants, and also costs for current or renewing allotment tenants (if there is a difference in these costs please explain why).

9. Please could you supply details of the main contact within the council for allotments.

10. Please supply details of the system used in order to track allotment tenants, and the application process.

11. Please provide a copy of the privacy statement relating to the retention of data on allotment tenants.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.
If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined I would be grateful for any further advice and assistance.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request, please do so via whatdotheyknow.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

J. N. Kitchen

Dear Stockton on Tees Council,

Please could you provide an update on this FOI it is now overdue.

Yours faithfully,

J. N. Kitchen

FOI and Complaints, Stockton on Tees Council

Dear J. N. Kitchen

We cannot find a record of the request you have referred to. All requests are acknowledged – can you please forward the acknowledgement to us so we can search by the reference number you will have been allocated.

Kind regards
Stockton Borough Council

Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LD
(01642) 528554
[Stockton on Tees Council request email]
www.stockton.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear FOI and Complaints,

The messages via what do they know claim this was delivered, and tell me to send you these details;

2021-06-01 10:17:52 [2488] 1lo0X2-0000e8-9L <= request-761350-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com H=owl.ukcod.org.uk [46.43.39.108]:46739 I=[46.43.39.112]:25 P=esmtps X=TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256 CV=no S=5683 M8S=0 id=[email address] T="Freedom of Information request - Provision of Allotments / Allotment\n Provision and Details" from <request-761350-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com> for [email address]
2021-06-01 10:17:52 [10358] 1lo0X2-0002h1-4l => [email address] <[email address]> F=<request-761350-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com> P=<request-761350-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com> R=send_to_smarthost T=remote_smtp S=5506 H=[REDACTED] PRX=[]:0 I=[46.43.39.108]:46739 X=TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256 CV=no DN="CN=mx0.mysociety.org" C="250 OK id=1lo0X2-0000e8-9L" QT=0s DT=0s
2021-06-01 10:17:53 [2489] 1lo0X2-0000e8-9L => [email address] <[email address]> F=<request-761350-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com> P=<request-761350-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com> R=dnslookup_returnpath_dkim T=remote_smtp_dkim_returnpath S=6670 H=stockton-gov-uk.mail.protection.outlook.com [104.47.9.36]:25 PRX=[]:0 I=[46.43.39.102]:51225 X=TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256 CV=yes DN="C=US,ST=Washington,L=Redmond,O=Microsoft Corporation,CN=mail.protection.outlook.com" C="250 2.6.0 <[email address]> [InternalId=9710921072115, Hostname=CWLP265MB4001.GBRP265.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM] 17098 bytes in 0.065, 256.655 KB/sec Queued mail for delivery" QT=1s DT=1s

The FOI was sent on 1st July 2021.

Yours sincerely,

J. N. Kitchen

Dear FOI and Complaints,

The initial request for clarity was as below;

Dear Stockton on Tees Council,

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from yourselves relating to allotments and the provision of space for allotments.

Having recently been informed that the waiting list for an allotment in many council areas is now unmanageable I am requesting some information from your authority.
In a response to a question in 2007 to central government they indicated that;
"If the council decides that there is a demand for allotments; they have a statutory duty to provide a sufficient number of plots. In terms of the duty to provide under section 23 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908 there is no time limit for provision once it has been established that there is a demand"

1. So my first question relating to the statement above is, what is the current backlog of demand for an allotment in the borough of Stockton on Tees. Please provide this split by allotment or site and in total. For clarity I mean the number of requests for an allotment by new prospective tenants which have not been offered an allotment.
1a. Please also provide the number of allotments currently under offer.

2. Furthermore, what plans do the council have to create more space for allotments.

3. What is the average waiting time from request for an allotment to offer of a place.

4. Is your number of requests for an allotment what you as a council would deem manageable, or is the situation unsustainable eg. there are more requests than total allotments available.

5. How many requests for allotments were received within the following calendar years; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to date

6. How many requests for allotments have been cancelled or withdrawn by the requestor in the following calendar years; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to date
6a. How many offers of allotments were made (or if easier the number of allotments becoming available) in the following calendar years; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to date

7. Please could you provide copies of any rules or regulations supplied to allotment holders upon acceptance of a plot.
7a. Are there restrictions on who can apply for an allotment within your council area.

8. Please could you supply a breakdown of the costs for first time allotment tenants, and also costs for current or renewing allotment tenants (if there is a difference in these costs please explain why).

9. Please could you supply details of the main contact within the council for allotments.

10. Please supply details of the system used in order to track allotment tenants, and the application process.

11. Please provide a copy of the privacy statement relating to the retention of data on allotment tenants.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.
If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined I would be grateful for any further advice and assistance.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request, please do so via whatdotheyknow.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

J. N. Kitchen

Dear FOI and Complaints,

1st June rather than July

Yours sincerely,

J. N. Kitchen

FOI and Complaints, Stockton on Tees Council

Dear Mr Kitchen

I'm not sure why your request was not received by us, but sometimes our filtering system can be a little over zealous. Would you like me to log it from today's date?

Kind regards

Sarah McLaren
Officer (Information Governance)
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Telephone: 01642 527455 | Email: [email address] | Web: www.stockton.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear FOI and Complaints,

Yes please.

Yours sincerely,

J. N. Kitchen

Stockton on Tees Council

2 Attachments

[1]{"HashCode":1844345984,"Height":841.0,"Width":595.0,"Placement":"Header","Index":"Primary","Section":1,"Top":0.0,"Left":0.0}

 

Dear J. Kitchen

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations
2004 – Ref: 0648/2122

 

Thank you for your correspondence received on 30 June 2021.

 

Your request is being considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (whichever is most
appropriate). You will receive the information requested within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days.

 

However, please note the Acts define a number of exemptions that may
prevent release of the requested information. There will therefore be an
assessment of your request to determine if any exemptions apply to the
information requested. If the information cannot be released, or only
released in part you will be informed of the reasons why, together with
any rights of appeal.

 

If the information requested refers to a third party, they may be
consulted before deciding whether it can be released.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Governance Team

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Telephone: 01642 527521 I Email: [2][email address] I
Web: [3]www.stockton.gov.uk

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.stockton.gov.uk/

FOI and Complaints, Stockton on Tees Council

2 Attachments

Dear J Kitchen

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Ref: 0648/2122

Thank you for your correspondence received on 30 June 2021. In response to
your request I can now provide the following information.

What is the current backlog of demand for an allotment in the borough of
Stockton on Tees. Please provide this split by allotment or site and in
total. For clarity I mean the number of requests for an allotment by new
prospective tenants which have not been offered an allotment.

For the Council managed allotments across two sites the current waiting
list is 600. This is split as follows:

Thornaby managed allotments: 280

Quarry Road managed allotments: 320

 

We do not maintain a record of a waiting list for non-directly managed
allotments within the borough of Stockton on Tees held by Allotment
Associations.

 

1a. Please also provide the number of allotments currently under offer.

At the time of this response, there are 19 plots across both sites
currently under offer for our directly managed allotment sites.

 

Furthermore, what plans do the Council have to create more space for
allotments.

We split large plots to accommodate more plots.

 

3. What is the average waiting time from request for an allotment to offer
of a place.

Across our directly managed sites, it’s currently approximately 18 months
to 2 years.

 

4. Is your number of requests for an allotment what you as a council would
deem manageable, or is the situation unsustainable eg. there are more
requests than total allotments available.

This question asks for opinion and is therefore not within the remit of
the Freedom of Information Act.

 

5. How many requests for allotments were received within the following
calendar years; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to date

In respect of our two directly managed sites:

2018: Information not available

2019: 17

2020: 368

2021 to date: 214

 

6. How many requests for allotments have been cancelled or withdrawn by
the requestor in the following calendar years; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to
date

We do not record this information.

6a. How many offers of allotments were made (or if easier the number of
allotments becoming available) in the following calendar years; 2018,
2019, 2020, 2021 to date

We do not record this information.

7. Please could you provide copies of any rules or regulations supplied to
allotment holders upon acceptance of a plot.

An allotment agreement is attached which is provided to allotment holders
upon acceptance of a plot.

 

7a. Are there restrictions on who can apply for an allotment within your
council area.

Restricted to people who live within the borough of Stockton on Tees

 

8. Please could you supply a breakdown of the costs for first time
allotment tenants, and also costs for current or renewing allotment
tenants (if there is a difference in these costs please explain why).

The plot holders pay a fixed rent of £35 per annum. There are no other
charges to the plot holders other than a £20 refundable key deposit.

 

9. Please could you supply details of the main contact within the Council
for allotments.

For our directly managed allotment siets, the allotment are managed by two
separate services:

Valuation and Property Management: waiting lists, lettings, invoicing, key
deposit and terminations. Email address:
[1][email address]

Care for your Area: non cultivation and day to day management: Email: Care
For Your Area [2][email address]

 

10. Please supply details of the system used in order to track allotment
tenants, and the application process.

Our waiting list is on Excel. We invoice/credit via Agresso accounts
system. There are no other systems used.

 

11. Please provide a copy of the privacy statement relating to the
retention of data on allotment tenants.

The Council’s privacy statement is available on our website at
[3]https://www.stockton.gov.uk/our-council/....

 

 

If you have any queries or concerns please contact me in the first
instance.

 

However, if you are unhappy with the way your request for information has
been handled, you can submit a complaint to
[4][email address]

 

If, after your complaint has been determined, 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 (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Website:
[5]www.ico.org.uk

 

The ICO does not make a charge for an appeal.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sarah McLaren

Information Governance Team

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Telephone: 01642 527521 I Email: [6][email address] I
Web: [7]www.stockton.gov.uk

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.stockton.gov.uk/our-council/...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.ico.org.uk/
6. mailto:[email address]
7. http://www.stockton.gov.uk/

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are J. N. Kitchen please sign in and let everyone know.