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Freedom of Information request
Our reference: 11412385

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Adrian Hart
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for information to Brighton & Hove City Council
('the council') that was received on 1 August 2022. Your Information
Request has been logged as;
 
Please can you send me any evidence the council holds to suggest the
Aquarium Roundabout is one of the UKs (or even Brighton's) most dangerous
roundabouts or in fact any more dangerous to road users and pedestrians
than numerous traffic light junctions?

(I refer to remarks made by Cllr Davis at the environment, transport and
sustainability committee meeting on Tuesday 21 June 2022 as reported in
the Argus by Sarah Booker-Lewis on June 27th)
 
We are considering your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
. Our external website has information relating to this that you may find
useful. The link is below
 
[1]Freedom of Information
 
We aim to send a response to all requests for information within 20
working days of receipt. We plan to respond to your request by 30 August
2022. If we need more time, we'll let you know the extended due date.
We'll also contact you should we require any additional information in
relation to your request.
 
Please include your case reference 11412385 on all correspondence in
relation to this request.
 

IMPORTANT: Please do not edit the existing subject line text when replying
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Yours sincerely
 
 
Information Rights Team 
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Freedom of Information request
Our reference: 11412385

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Adrian Hart
 
We are considering your request of 01.08.2022 under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
We're sorry, we need more time to consider and respond to your request due
to awaiting responses from the service area/s that may hold information
relevant to your request.
 
We now plan to respond to you by 27.09.2022. This new date exceeds the 20
working day statutory time limit. We thank you for your patience and
apologise for any inconvenience this extension causes you.
 
Please include your case reference 11412385 on all correspondence in
relation to this request.
 

IMPORTANT: Please do not edit the existing subject line text when replying
to this email. If you change this it will take us longer to identify the
request that you are corresponding about and will delay us in responding
to you. 

 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Information Rights Team 
Notice to recipient: The information contained in this electronic mail
message is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is
addressed and may contain information which is privileged and
confidential, the disclosure of which is prohibited by law.   If the
reader of this message is not the intended recipient, please note that any
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Freedom of Information request
Our reference: 11412385

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Adrian Hart
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 1 August 2022.
 
Please find attached our response to your request. We apologise for the
length of time it has taken us to respond to you. 
 
Important: Should you wish to contact us again regarding this request,
please do not edit the existing subject line text when replying to this
email. If you change this it will take us longer to identify the request
that you are corresponding about and will delay us in responding to you. 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Information Rights Team

Notice to recipient: The information contained in this electronic mail
message is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is
addressed and may contain information which is privileged and
confidential, the disclosure of which is prohibited by law.   If the
reader of this message is not the intended recipient, please note that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication in error please notify
the sender immediately.   Thank you in anticipation of your co-operation.
  You can visit our website at http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk   Please
consider the environment, only print out this email if absolutely
necessary.   Please Note:  Both incoming and outgoing Emails may be
monitored and/or recorded in line with current legislation

 
 
 
 
 
Freedom of Information request
Our reference: 11412385

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Adrian Hart
 
Thank you for your request for an Internal Review received on 23 September
2022. We are sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle
your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
We can confirm that we are considering your concerns and we will aim to
provide you with a response by 21 October 2022.
 
IMPORTANT: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this
email. If you change this it will take us longer to identify the request
that you are corresponding about and will delay us in responding to you.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Information Rights Team

 
 
 
 
Notice to recipient: The information contained in this electronic mail
message is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is
addressed and may contain information which is privileged and
confidential, the disclosure of which is prohibited by law.   If the
reader of this message is not the intended recipient, please note that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication in error please notify
the sender immediately.   Thank you in anticipation of your co-operation.
  You can visit our website at http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk   Please
consider the environment, only print out this email if absolutely
necessary.   Please Note:  Both incoming and outgoing Emails may be
monitored and/or recorded in line with current legislation

Thank you for your email.

This is an automated email receipt acknowledgement from the Freedom of
Information mailbox ([1][email address]).  This
mailbox is managed by the Information Governance Team at Brighton & Hove
City Council.

Should your email be in relation to a new Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOI) or a new Environmental Information Regulation 2004  (EIR) request,
we will aim to formally acknowledge this within five working days.

For all non-request related queries, we will aim to respond to you within
10 working days.

How we process new FOI and EIR requests

When you submit a new FOI or EIR request, we will do the following:

• We will log your request and send an acknowledgement email to you
stating the request reference number.  This number is specific to your
request, please include it in all future correspondence. We aim to do
this within five working days of receiving your request. We may also
contact you to clarify or provide additional information to assist us
in processing your request.
• Please note that future email correspondence regarding your request
will then be sent to you from [2][email address]
• We will allocate your request to the appropriate Council team(s) for
them to collate the information you have requested, should it be held
by us.
• Once we have received an approved response back from the relevant
Council team(s), we will send this to you.

◦ Please note that your response will be sent to you in letter form,
as an email attachment.
◦ An anonymized version of the your response may be published on the
Council’s [3]Disclosure Log.

When you can expect to receive a response to your FOI request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004, the Council has a legal obligation to
respond to a valid request no later than 20 working days following the
date of receipt.  In certain circumstances, this 20 working day limit can
be extended.

Further Information

You can find more information about the FOI process and how to make a
request on the Council website through the link below:

[4]Freedom of Information – Brighton & Hove City Council  

Thank you

Information Governance Team

[5]Brighton & Hove City Council

Please note that we are currently unable to respond to or receive
telephone calls or hard copy correspondence.  Please contact us via email
where possible.

Please also be aware that our response times may be delayed as due to the
current Coronavirus (Covid 19) pandemic, staff working at the Council may
become absent or deployed to other areas of work at short notice.

Notice to recipient:
The information contained in this electronic mail message is intended only
for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed
and may contain information which is privileged and confidential, the
disclosure of which is prohibited by law.
If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, please note
that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this
communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
communication in error please notify the sender immediately.
Thank you in anticipation of your co-operation.

You can visit our website at [6]http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

Please consider the environment, only print out this email if absolutely
necessary.

Please Note:  Both incoming and outgoing Emails may be monitored and/or
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Visible links
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3. http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/...
4. http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/...
5. http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/
6. http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/

Information requested by: Adrian Hart
Review carried out by:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Freedom of Information request
Our reference: 11412385

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Adrian Hart 
 

Thank you for your internal review request of 26 September 2022 in
relation to your Freedom of Information Act request, which we received on
03 August 2022.  We have now processed your request and I can confirm that
we do not uphold your complaint. 

Your request and our response are below:

Your request

  Please can you send me any evidence the council holds to suggest the
Aquarium Roundabout is one of the UKs (or even Brighton's) most dangerous
roundabouts or in fact any more dangerous to road users and pedestrians
than numerous traffic light junctions?

(I refer to remarks made by Cllr Davis at the environment, transport and
sustainability committee meeting on Tuesday 21 June 2022 as reported in
the Argus by Sarah Booker-Lewis on June 27th)

Our initial response on 02 September 2022

The council holds the attached data analysis (FOI 11412385 Collision
Clusters Report.pdf) for the Palace Pier/Aquarium roundabout junction
which was produced earlier this year. It is based on an assessment of
locations where 4 or more collisions resulting in personal injuries
occurred, within a radius of 25 metres, during a recent three-year period.
It shows that out of 81 sites, the junction had the highest number of
collisions in the city during that time.

The junction also had the highest number of collisions in the city when a
similar analysis of past data was undertaken to inform the development of
the Valley Gardens Phase 3 project in 2018, as shown in the attached file
(FOI 11412385 Collision Cluster Table.pdf).

Please note when referring to the attached files, the abbreviations should
be read as follows: Fa = Fatal; Se = Serious; SI = Slight; KSI = killed or
seriously injured.

Under section 21 (1) (Information accessible to the applicant by other
means) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), we are not
required to provide information in response to a request if it is already
reasonably accessible by other means and even if there is a charge or fee
to obtain this information. The council does not hold any information
about the junction which compares it to others in the UK. References that
have been made to the danger of the junction in a national context are
based on articles that were published in the national and local media in
2019. These included a journalist's independent analysis of publicly
available figures from the government's Department for Transport, which is
mentioned in the Argus article that you have referred to in your request.
Government data on road accidents and safety statistics can be found on a
number of their webpages including -
https://roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/custom-do...

Your internal review request on 26 September 2022

Alternatively you might consider clearing up a glaring omission in your
response by simply answering the part of the question that you failed to
address.

To re-cap:
My question was Please can you send me any evidence the council holds to
suggest the
Aquarium Roundabout is one of the UKs (or even Brighton's) most
dangerous roundabouts or in fact any more dangerous to road users and
pedestrians than numerous traffic light junctions?

You answered the question by sending me two tables of data ('Collision
Clusters Report' and 'Collision Cluster Table'). These, you asserted, were
supposed to prove that the junction had the highest number of collisions
in the city. Yet, without an analysis of the collision rate (ie the number
of journeys flowing through a particular junction) you cannot possibly
make that assertion. Please, therefore, complete the answer by supplying
the collision rate data that backs your assertion.

The Aquarium Roundabout has over 18 million journeys passing through it
per year. Any meaningful comparison with other junctions in the city must
take collision rate into account.

It is impossible to imagine that when an foi requestor asks his council to
clarify assertions made by Cllr Davis (on 21st June ETS) and Cllr Lloyd
(on 20th Sept) your team would not then refer to officer expertise that
understands the issue of collision rate. When you tell me in your letter
of 2nd Sept "we liaised with colleagues within our Transport department"
are you really saying that they felt an answer based on accident clusters
was sufficient?

I am in touch with the DfT, Crashmap, ROSPA and the RSF; I will if need be
send you the information they supply which contradicts the BHCC claim. The
Agilysis explanation of collision rate, in broad terms (aka risk-rate) is
here: https://agilysis.co.uk/portfolio-item/ri...

Despite the fact that Cllr Lloyd considers that crashmap comparisons mean
"the end of this debate" and that further discussion is getting "quite
boring" I do hope expertise within the council can correct the assertion
that this roundabout is 'the most' dangerous junction in the city or even
unacceptably dangerous at all.

Our Conclusion

 In processing your internal review request we contacted the Council's
Transport Team, Traffic Accident Investigation Officer, as they would hold
the information being request should it be held by the Council. 

The response to this request provided the data/evidence that the council
held regarding this junction, in relation to previous statements that have
been made about the number of collisions that have occurred.  This is the
basis on which the junction has been referred to as being the most
dangerous in the city.  The numerical information provided confirms these
statements and is based on a consistent comparison with other sites in the
city, using validated, readily available collision data. 

When studying collisions and assessing priorities across the city, the
council uses cluster or route analysis to identify dangerous locations. 
This approach is also used by other partners, including other councils, to
identify priorities.  It is not possible to provide a collision rate to
enable a comparison of every junction in the city where there are 4 or
more collisions within a 25m radius, as the council does not collect or
hold the traffic flow  information for each of those junctions.

 
The final decision of this review is that we do not uphold your complaint.
 
If you are not content with the outcome of this Internal Review you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner's Office for a
further decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
 
[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedon...
 
Helpline on 0303 123 1113
 
Important: Should you wish to contact us again regarding this request,
please do not edit the existing subject line text when replying to this
email. If you change this it will take us longer to identify the request
that you are corresponding about and will delay us in responding to you. 
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Eisha Jangda
Information Rights Lead
IT&D
-
 
 
 
 
Notice to recipient: The information contained in this electronic mail
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reader of this message is not the intended recipient, please note that any
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the sender immediately.   Thank you in anticipation of your co-operation.
  You can visit our website at http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk   Please
consider the environment, only print out this email if absolutely
necessary.   Please Note:  Both incoming and outgoing Emails may be
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References

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