Council assets
To the information officer,
I am emailing to request the following information from the council under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
Note: This request does not relate to social housing stock
1) A list of building, land and heritage assets disposed of (i.e. the council no longer owned the asset) by the council between 2014/2015 and the date on which you received this request, including:
- Name of the asset
- What type of asset is it - building, land or heritage?
- Address (if applicable)
- Postcode (if applicable)
- UPRN (if possible)
- The date it was disposed of
- The type of disposal (for example sale, community asset transfer, etc)
- The valuation of the asset at the point it was classified as an asset held for sale (both lower amount and fair value less, if possible)
- How much it was sold for? (if applicable)
- Who it was sold to?
- How it was disposed of (open market, auction, etc)
2) A list of building, land and heritage assets acquired by the council between 2014/2015 and the date on which you received this request, including:
- Name of the asset
- What type of asset is it - building, land or heritage?
- Address
- Postcode
- UPRN (if possible)
- The date it was acquired
- Who was it acquired from?
- How much did it cost?
- Is it now classed as an investment property?
3) How many land, building and heritage assets did the council have as of
a) the beginning of 2014/15
b) the date on which you received this request
I would like to receive this information electronically a spreadsheet, with the points above as the column headers.
If the decision is made to withhold some of this information using exemptions in the Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the exemptions used.
Please note the questions:
Who it was sold to?
Who was it acquired from?
In response to test FOIs some local authorities declined to release this information relating to these questions, arguing it was exempt under Section 40 - Personal information.
The definition of personal data referred to in the FOIA is that used by the Data Protection Act. This states that, for data to constitute personal data, “it must relate to a living individual, and that individual must be identifiable”. As a result, unless the response relates to a person (or a sole trader) it cannot be exempt under Section 40.
If you need clarification please contact me at this email address. Under your section 16 duty to provide advice and assistance I would expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in any way before the 20th working day.
I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request, and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Thank you for your time,
Gareth
Dear Mr Davies
Freedom of Information request: FOI-17764
Thank you for your request dated 31 July 2018
Your request will be answered by 29 August 2018
If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
Jackie Jago
Head of Corporate Services
Corporate Services
Directorate of Central Services
Royal Borough of Greenwich
020 8921 5044
Room 20 Basement The Town Hall, Wellington Street, London SE18 6PW
www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk
Dear Mr Davies
Freedom of Information request: FOI - 17764
Please accept our apologies but there will be a delay in providing you with a response to your FOI request. We hope to provide you with your response as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Manager
Directorate of Communities & Environment Royal Borough of Greenwich
LGC Council of the Year 2013
020 8921 6174
Woolwich Town Hall, Wellington Street, London, SE18 6PW www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk
Dear Mr Davies,
Freedom of Information request FOI 17764
Thank you for your request dated 31st July 2018 and we apologise for the delay in responding to your questions.
Our response is as follows:
1) A list of building, land and heritage assets disposed of (i.e. the council no longer owned the asset) by the council between 2014/2015 and the date on which you received this request, including:
- Name of the asset
- What type of asset is it - building, land or heritage?
- Address (if applicable)
- Postcode (if applicable)
- UPRN (if possible)
- The date it was disposed of
- The type of disposal (for example sale, community asset transfer, etc)
- The valuation of the asset at the point it was classified as an asset held for sale (both lower amount and fair value less, if possible)
- How much it was sold for? (if applicable)
- Who it was sold to?
- How it was disposed of (open market, auction, etc)
2) A list of building, land and heritage assets acquired by the council between 2014/2015 and the date on which you received this request, including:
- Name of the asset
- What type of asset is it - building, land or heritage?
- Address
- Postcode
- UPRN (if possible)
- The date it was acquired
- Who was it acquired from?
- How much did it cost?
- Is it now classed as an investment property?
Please find attached a spreadsheet containing as much information as the Council has available in order to answer your questions 1 and 2.
Information concerning who the asset was acquired from, and sold to, has been withheld under Section 43(2) – Commercial Interests – of the FOI Act.
43(2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).
Public interest in favour of disclosing the information
• The Council accepts that this information would be of interest to the public.
• The Council acknowledges there is a public interest in overall accountability and transparency and in the disclosure of information which enables members of the public to scrutinise more clearly how the Council functions.
Public interest in favour of maintaining the exemption
• The arrangement entered into when selling or acquiring assets is regarded as confidential between the Council and the relevant parties and should not be passed on to third parties where details may be relayed to the wider public.
The Council therefore concludes that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
3) How many land, building and heritage assets did the council have as of
a) the beginning of 2014/15
824
b) the date on which you received this request
858
If you have any queries about this correspondence, please contact me, quoting the reference number above.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you can ask for an Internal Review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original request. If you wish to do this, please contact us, setting out why you are dissatisfied.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. You can contact the ICO by emailing [email address], or by post at Customer Contact, Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Jackie Jago
Head of Corporate Services
Corporate Services
Directorate of Central Services
Royal Borough of Greenwich
020 8921 5044
Room 20 Basement The Town Hall, Wellington Street, London SE18 6PW
www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk
Dear Greenwich Borough Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Greenwich Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Council assets'.
In its response, the council states the following reason for withholding some of the information I have requested:
43(2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).
Public interest in favour of disclosing the information
• The Council accepts that this information would be of interest to the public.
• The Council acknowledges there is a public interest in overall accountability and transparency and in the disclosure of information which enables members of the public to scrutinise more clearly how the Council functions.
Public interest in favour of maintaining the exemption
• The arrangement entered into when selling or acquiring assets is regarded as confidential between the Council and the relevant parties and should not be passed on to third parties where details may be relayed to the wider public.
The Council therefore concludes that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
In response I do not not agree with the use of Section 43(2) or the balance applied to the public interest test.
I do not agree that disclosure of the withheld information would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person, including the council. Firstly, these are details of historical acquisitions and disposals, not ongoing negotiations. I am not requesting details of active deals (such as the council's negotiating position, or the valuation of assets that have yet to reach the open market) but transactions that have already occurred.
Even if it were commercially sensitive, the public interest in releasing this information far outweighs that of withholding it. As the council acknowledges, the sale of public assets is of public interest. But it understates this public interest. Firstly, it is currently a period of huge financial strain on local authorities across the country. There has never been a more crucial time for the public to be able to properly scrutinise how the council spends their money and, by extension, what it does with its assets. Furthermore, in 2016 the Government introduced the flexible use of capital receipts, allowing local authorities for the first time to use the proceeds of the sale of assets towards their running costs. Even if the council has yet to make use of this policy, it may do so in the future. As such it is even more important for people to know what it is doing with its land and building assets.
Yours faithfully,
Gareth Davies
Dear Mr Davies
Freedom of Information request Internal Review: FOI-IR-17764
Thank you for your request for an Internal Review regarding our response to your Freedom of Information request.
Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.
If you have any queries, please contact me, quoting the reference number.
If you are not content with the outcome of the Internal Review, you can apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Jackie Jago
Head of Corporate Services
Corporate Services
Directorate of Central Services
Royal Borough of Greenwich
020 8921 5044
Room 20 Basement The Town Hall, Wellington Street, London SE18 6PW
www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk
Dear Mr Davies,
Internal review of Freedom of Information request: FOI-IR-17764
Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing our response to your request for an Internal Review on the handling of Freedom of Information request FOI-17764
It has taken more time than expected for the Council to conduct its Internal Review and we will provide our response by Friday 5th October 2018
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours sincerely,
Jackie Jago
Head of Corporate Services
Central Services
Royal Borough of Greenwich
020 8921 5044
0 Room 20, Basement, Town Hall, Wellington Street, Woolwich, London SE18 6PW
RR www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk
Please consider the environment before printing this email
Dear Mr Davies,
Internal Review on Freedom of Information request: FOI-IR-17764
Thank you for your Internal Review request on the handling of your Freedom
of Information request.
If you are not content with the outcome of the Internal Review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision.
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Jackie Jago
Head of Corporate Services
Corporate Services
Directorate of Central Services
Royal Borough of Greenwich
' 020 8921 5044
* Room 20 Basement The Town Hall, Wellington Street, London SE18 6PW
From: Gareth Davies <[FOI #504204 email]>
Sent: 31 August 2018 17:29
To: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Council
assets
This message has been archived. [1]View the original item
Dear Greenwich Borough Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Greenwich Borough Council's
handling of my FOI request 'Council assets'.
In its response, the council states the following reason for
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Royal Borough of Greenwich - LGC Council Of The Year 2013
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