Emails about the Western Harbour

The request was refused by Bristol City Council.

Dear Bristol City Council,

Please provide the following in relation to the Western Harbour project between September 2017 and January 2020.

- Any emails or notes involving Cabinet members, the Executive for Growth and Regeneration (both of them) and any other lead on the project in relation to Western Harbour or the Cumberland Basin. Please include all threads and attachments, and check deleted emails.

Yours faithfully,

Joanna Booth

Bristol City Council

 
Dear Joanna Booth
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 17
February 2020.
 
We are dealing with your request and we aim to send a response by 16 March
2020.
 
If you have any further queries about your request please contact
[1][email address].
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Customer Relations Team
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

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Council services: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/service
Latest council news: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ournews
Consultations: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/consult

References

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1. mailto:[email address]

Bristol City Council

 
Dear Joanna Booth
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 17
February 2020.
 
We are dealing with your request and we aim to send a response by 16 March
2020.
 
If you have any further queries about your request please contact
[1][email address].
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Customer Relations Team
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Council services: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/service
Latest council news: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ournews
Consultations: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/consult

References

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1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Bristol City Council,

This response is now overdue. By law you should normally have responded promptly.

Please provide the output required.

Yours sincerely,

Joanna Booth

Dear Bristol City Council,

I understand that you are very busy right now, but the original response was due before the lockdown. It is now a month after the response was due. I hope I get a response soon.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Joanna Booth

Bristol City Council

 
Dear ‎Joanna Booth‏
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Bristol City Council may hold information that falls within your request,
however we consider that the cost of complying with your request would
exceed the limit provided under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ('FOI
Act'). We are therefore refusing your request on the following grounds:
Section 12 ' Exceeds cost limit
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a
request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the
information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other
information would exceed the appropriate limit (currently £450 for Bristol
City Council). This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on
the activities described and is the equivalent of 18 hours.
 
In order to estimate how long it would take to respond to your request,
one council officer within the Executive Office team has run a search on
their emails using the search term 'Western Harbour.' The search has
identified over several hundred emails that may fall within scope of your
request and we would need to review each email to consider whether it
relates to your request. We estimate that it would take  5 minutes  to
review each email and any attachment/s to consider whether it falls within
scope of your request and to identify duplicate email chains. Based on
this, it would take one officer over 58 hours to fully comply with your
request.
 
As we estimate it would take over the 18 hour limit provided in the FOI
Act to identify, retrieve and extract the information requested, we
consider that section 12 applies and are refusing your request.
 
Narrowing your request
Under the FOI Act, a public authority is not obliged to search for, or
compile some of the requested information before refusing a request that
it estimates will exceed the appropriate limit. You may wish to narrow the
scope of your request by reducing the time frame of your request and
focusing on the information that is most important to you.
 
Please note that any refined request we receive will be treated as a fresh
request and we cannot guarantee that any relevant exemptions under the FOI
Act will not apply to a revised request.
 
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to 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 letter and should sent to [1][email address].
 
If you are still dissatisfied with the Council's response after the
internal review you have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner
at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: www.ico.gov.uk

Please contact me if you have any queries or concerns.

Yours faithfully
 
 
Bristol City Council
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Council services: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/service
Latest council news: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ournews
Consultations: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/consult

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Bristol City Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Bristol City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Emails about the Western Harbour'.

1. The ICO recommends that "where a public authority claims that section 12 is engaged, it should, where reasonable, provide advice and assistance to help the requestor to refine the request so that it can be dealt with under the appropriate limit."

So far, the request has taken four months. I find it unreasonable that if I was to ask for, say, 12 months of emails, you would take four more months to provide the information.

2. You have clearly not asked me to refine my search.

I am happy to reframe it in the following way if you wish to pursue this option: Please limit the date for the emails to the last twelve months from 24 June 2019 to 24 June 2020.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

Yours faithfully,

Joanna Booth

Bristol City Council

1 Attachment

 
Dear Ms Booth,
 
Please see our response to your reframed request attached. Please accept
our apologies for the delay in responding.
Kind regards,
 
Freedom of Information team
Bristol City Council
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Council services: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/service
Latest council news: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ournews
Consultations: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/consult