Empty buildings

Gwrthodwyd y cais gan Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust.

Dear Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust,

Can you provide me with the following information under the
Freedom Of Information Act 2000:-

(a) addresses of any empty buildings (be it commercial or
residential or industrial or industrial or storage facility etc) which belongs to yourselves

(b) addresses of any buildings (be it commercial or residential or industrial or storage or medical facility) which belongs to yourselves, that are scheduled to be vacant in the next 12 months for whatever reason.

(c) if possible, type of use (eg. storage, office, warehouse, training, staff accommodation, medical facility etc) of those buildings referred to in (a) and (b)

(d) if possible, approximate date (month and year) from which it became empty or will become empty, of those buildings referred to in (a) and (b)

Thank you in advance.

Yours faithfully,

L.C. Looi

Lewisham Foi (LEWISHAM HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST), Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust

Dear Mr/Mrs Looi

 

I am writing to you as it has come to our attention that your Freedom of
Information request, submitted to our organisation through
whatdotheyknow.com on 15 December 2012, has not yet been answered. Please
accept our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your request.
We consider delays of this length to be unacceptable and have reviewed our
Freedom of Information processes to ensure this does not happen again. We
now routinely monitor whatdotheyknow.com to ensure that all requests
submitted through it are answered in strict accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act.

 

You asked for the following information

 

Can you provide me with the following information under the Freedom Of
Information Act 2000:-

(a) addresses of any empty buildings (be it commercial or residential or
industrial or industrial or storage facility etc) which belongs to
yourselves

(b) addresses of any buildings (be it commercial or residential or
industrial or storage or medical facility) which belongs to yourselves,
that are scheduled to be vacant in the next 12 months for whatever reason.

(c) if possible, type of use (eg. storage, office, warehouse, training,
staff accommodation, medical facility etc) of those buildings referred to
in (a) and (b)

(d) if possible, approximate date (month and year) from which it became
empty or will become empty, of those buildings referred to in (a) and (b)

 

Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust has now considered your request and in our
view the information requested would be information which is exempt from
release under section 31(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. 

 

Disclosing a list of addresses, and timescales of occupancy, would make it
possible for the properties to become vulnerable to potential squatters
and associated crime resulting from this, such as criminal damage or
antisocial behaviour. Empty properties are also associated with criminal
activity such as organised “stripping” of empty properties, whereby any
items of value (such as pipes and floor boards, electric wiring, copper
water tanks) are removed, leaving an empty and uninhabitable shell
property.

As the exemption under section 31(1)(a) is a qualified exemption, it is
subject to the public interest test whereby we need to consider both the
arguments for and against the release of this information.

We can see there is some public interest in disclosure of this
information.  Releasing the information would assist the public debate
concerning the number of empty or void properties owned by public bodies.

The argument against the release of the information is that there is an
inherently strong public interest in avoiding crime and criminal damage to
public property. Disclosing the information would make it possible for
crimes to be committed.

 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like clarification of
anything in this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number
above in any future communications.

 

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request an internal review of our
decision, you should write to me at the above address.  Internal review
requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of
the response to your original letter.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted
the complaints procedure provided by Information Governance. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Freedom of Information Office

Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust

 

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir