Construction Work at 4 Rectory Park, CR2 9JL - Building Control Body

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Croydon Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

Ref: The Building (Approved Inspectors etc.) Regulations 2010

Please provide copies of any Initial Notice and/or Notice of Cancellation served by an Approved Inspector under the Regulations, with regard to the current construction work at 4 Rectory Park, South Croydon CR2 9JL.

Yours faithfully,
Geoff Blyth

Freedom of Information, Croydon Borough Council

 

Dear Mr Blyth

 

Freedom of Information Request

 

Thank you for your recent request.

 

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
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Yours sincerely

 

Steven Borg

FOI Co-ordinator

Croydon Council

 

Information in relation to the London Borough of Croydon is available
at [1]http://www.croydonobservatory.org/. Also responses to previous
Freedom of Information requests can also be found on the following link

[2]https://croydondata.wordpress.com/ Council services, online, 24/7
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2. https://croydondata.wordpress.com/

Dear Freedom of Information,

According to the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the Council should normally have responded promptly to this request and by 9 August 2019 at the latest.

Please now provide COPIES of the Initial Notice which the Council refers to as 18/02098/IN and any other Initial Notice and/or Notice of Cancellation held by the Council, with regard to the works carried out at this address following its approval of planning applications 18/00588/FUL and its discharge of related planning conditions (18/04572/DISC and 18/05568/DISC).

NOTE: there are NO copies of the above information to be found on the Council's website, so therefore Regulation 6(1)(b) does NOT apply.

Yours sincerely,
Geoff Blyth

Kelly, Sarah, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

BY EMAIL ONLY

 

Internal Review Request under the Environmental Information Regulations
2004

Our reference: Internal Review 11684

 

Dear Mr Blyth,

I acknowledge receipt of your request for an internal review dated 28
August 2019 regarding your request for information under the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) relating to notices in respect of
construction work at 4 Rectory Park (request ref. F/CRT/10011684). I
apologise for the delay in sending this acknowledgement to you. 

Your complaint regarding the way the council has processed your request
for information has been passed to me, to investigate, and respond to you.

I understand that you have not yet received a response to your EIR
request, and I am in the process of confirming when the EIR response is
likely to be issued. Under the EIR, the council is required to investigate
and provide a full response to internal review requests within 40 working
days. I therefore calculate that a full response will be provided to you
by 23 October 2019, although I hope to send you my response well before
that date.

Yours sincerely,

 

Sarah Kelly

Corporate Solicitor

 

[1]cid:image002.png@01D407E8.20701350

 

Legal Team

Resources Department

Floor 7 , Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

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Dear Ms Kelly,

You say that "... Under the EIR, the council is required to provide a full response to internal review requests within 40 working days. ..."

In fact, Regulation 11(4) states that the Council shall provide the outcome of its internal review AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and within 40 working days at the latest. I note that the Information Commissioner considers that in most cases it should be possible for the Council to respond within 20 working days.

Given the unjustified delays to date I shall now expect the Council to provide this information as a matter of urgency. Please note (again) there are NO copies of the requested information to be found on the Council's website, so therefore Regulation 6(1)(b) does NOT apply.

Yours sincerely,
Geoff Blyth

Kelly, Sarah, Croydon Borough Council

I am currently out of the office, returning on Tuesday, 15 October 2019. 

 

If you require urgent assistance during this time, please email the Legal
Business Team at [email address]

 

Otherwise I will respond to your message, when I return.

 

Kind regards

 

Sarah Kelly

Corporate Solicitor

 

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

FOI, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Blyth

Please find attached the Council's response to your Freedom of Information request. Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to you.

Kind Regards

Information Team
Law & Governance Division
Resources Department
7th Floor, Zone C
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA

[Croydon Borough Council request email]

show quoted sections

Kelly, Sarah, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

BY EMAIL ONLY

 

Internal Review Request under the Environmental Information Regulations
2004

Our reference: Internal Review 11684

 

Dear Mr Blyth,

I refer to your request for an internal review dated 28 August 2019 and
your email of 07 October 2019, regarding your request for information
under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). Your request
for information asked for copies of any Initial Notice and/or Notice of
Cancellation in respect of construction work at 4 Rectory Park (request
ref. F/CRT/10011684). 

I am sorry you were dissatisfied with the council’s late response to your
EIR request which was filed on 10 July 2019. The council is required to
provide a full response to requests for information under the EIR within a
time limit of 20 working days. I therefore calculate that a full response
should have been provided to you by 07 August 2019.

I understand the council’s Information Management Team sent the EIR
response to you on 22 October 2019. I therefore uphold your complaint that
the council has not complied with the EIR, by failing to issue a response
to your EIR request by the 20 working day deadline of 07 August 2019, and
can only apologise on behalf of the council, for this delay in responding
to your request, and for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I
will remind the Information Management Team of the need to inform
requesters promptly if there are likely to be delays in responding to
requests for information, and, where possible, to suggest an alternative
reasonable timescale for issuing the response.

Your email of 07 October 2019 stated that the information which you had
requested was not available on the council’s website.

I understand the EIR response explains that the council is required to
maintain a register of Initial Notices which it has received, including
information regarding whether such notices have been accepted or rejected.
This information can be obtained using the search facility for the
council’s publicly available online Building Control Applications
database.

 

I am instructed that if an Initial Notice has been served on the council,
the Building Control Applications database only contains a record that the
Initial Notice exists – it does not contain a copy of the notice itself. I
understand the EIR response sets out the reasons why the council withholds
building regulations information from disclosure on the grounds that this
is considered to be part of a confidential relationship between the
council and the applicant. Such building regulations information includes
Initial Notices.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire, SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely

 

Sarah Kelly

Corporate Solicitor

 

[1]cid:image002.png@01D407E8.20701350

 

Legal Team

Resources Department

Floor 7 , Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA  

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

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Geoff Blyth left an annotation ()

I have complained to the Information Commissioner about the Council's handling of this request (LBC Ref: EIR/10011684) and my complaint has now been accepted as eligible for further consideration (ICO Ref: FER0885509).