Enrolment of deeds and registration of titles to land

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

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion County Council,

Land Registry records indicate that a parcel of land identified on the Ordnance Survey map reference SN4562SE as SN 24584, 26257 is not registered.

Certificate Ref': 162 /R43ILLB
Certificate Date: 19 NOV 2014

This land is currently being licensed by Ceredigion County Council for use by a private user.
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) we request that you provide the following:

1 Proof of Absolute title to the land by Ceredigion County Council.
2 A copy of the deeds - if available. Or failing 1 & 2
3 documentary evidence setting out proof of legal Possessory title and
4 all other relevant documentation indicating record of previous ownership/ recent and historic ownership transactions Documents recording any other various methods of conveying property or land proving entitlement to ownership of the land referred to above.

Yours faithfully,

The Board of Trustees
Aeron Vale Allotments Trust (Reg. Charity No. 1166320)

Ceredigion Reception, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost – bydd yn derbyn sylw’r gwasanaeth priodol yn
ei dro.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate service in due course.

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Ceredigion Technical Services, Ceredigion County Council

Dear Sir/Madam

I refer to your email dated 05 December 2016. I am writing to inform you that your correspondence is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.

We aim to respond to you in full within 20 working days from receipt of your correspondence and will let you know if it is going to take longer.

Yours sincerely

Mair Hemming
Business Support Team Leader
for Paul Arnold
Head of Technical Services

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg a Saesneg. Cewch ateb Cymraeg i bob gohebiaeth Gymraeg ac ateb Saesneg I bob gohebiaeth Saesneg. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi.

We welcome correspondence in Welsh and English. Correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and correspondence in English will be answered in English. Corresponding in Welsh will not involve any delay.

show quoted sections

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Annwyl/ Dear Mair Hemming
(Business Support Team Leader for Paul Arnold, Head of C.C.C. Technical Services),

Diolch am eich hymateb. Disgwyliwn gael golwg ar y gwybodaeth yr ydym wedi gwneud cais amdano erbyn y 6ed o Ionawr 2017.

Thank you for your reply. We will expect sight of the information we requested from you by the 6th of January 2017.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion Technical Services, Ceredigion County Council

Mae hon yn neges awtomatig a anfonir er mwyn cydnabod derbyn eich e-bost.

 

A fyddech cystal â nodi y caiff unrhyw gais am wasanaeth ei anfon ymlaen
at yr adran berthnasol fel y gallant ddelio ag ef.  Bydd y mater yn cael
ei archwilio a’i ddelio fel yn briodol.

 

Dylech fod yn ymwybodol taw yn oriau arferol y swyddfa yr ymdrinnir â’r
e-byst yma.

 

Os bydd gennych argyfwng yn ymwneud â phriffyrdd y tu allan i oriau
arferol swyddfa ffoniwch 01970 625277 (Gogledd Ceredigion) neu 01239
851604 (De Ceredigion).  Os bydd gennych argyfwng yn ymwneud ag eiddo y tu
allan i oriau arferol swyddfa ffoniwch 0300 1231199.

 

 

This is an automated message to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail.

 

Please note that requests for service will be forwarded on receipt to the
appropriate section for action.  The matter will be investigated and dealt
with accordingly.

 

Please be aware that this mailbox is only administered during normal
office hours.

 

For Highways emergencies outside office hours please telephone 01970
625277 (North Ceredigion) or 01239 851604 (South Ceredigion).  For
Property emergencies outside office hours please telephone 0300 1231199.

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion County Council (Technical Services Department),

The Freedom of Information Act says:

"A public authority must comply with section 1(1) promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt".

We submitted a freedom of information request to you on the 5th of December 2016. On the 6th of December 2016, Mair Hemming (Business Support Team Leader) for Paul Arnold (Head of Technical Services) acknowledged receipt in writing of our request that was dated the 5th of December 2016. In that acknowledgement of receipt reply Mair Hemming also said
[quote]
"We aim to respond to you in full within 20 working days from receipt of your correspondence and will let you know if it is going to take longer."

It is now over twenty working days since our FOI request was made. We have not yet received a satisfactory response from the department that is dealing with our request on behalf of Ceredigion County Council.

If you have a good reason why the request is going to take longer to process than stipulated by the FOIA, then we would find it helpful if you can inform us with a sentence or two stating what is happening, and when we can expect your full response, with copies of the documents requested.

As you should be well aware, the law says authorities MUST respond promptly to FOI requests.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion County Council Technical Services Department,

The Aeron Vale Allotments Trust (Reg. Charity No. 1166320) made a F.O.I. request to Ceredigion County Council on the 5th of December 2016.

On the 6th of December we received a response from Mair Hemming (Business Support Team Leader for Paul Arnold Head of Technical Services) clearly stating:
[quote] "I refer to your email dated 05 December 2016. I am writing to inform you that your correspondence is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.

We aim to respond to you in full within 20 working days from receipt of your correspondence and will let you know if it is going to take longer." [End of quote]

On the 6th of December 2016 we sent a reply to Mair hemming stating:
[Quote] "Thank you for your reply. We will expect sight of the information we requested from you by the 6th of January 2017."
[End of quote]

On the 7th of January 2017 we sent you a reminder that we :
a) had NOT received acknowledgement of our last message of the 6th of December 2016 to Mair Hemming;
b) had NOT received a full response to our initial F.O.I. request;
c) had NOT been advised of the reason for the delay;
c) pointed out that your failure to acknowledge, respond or deal with our request within 20 working days was in contravention of the Freedom of Information Act.

We have received a delivery status notification for our last correspondence to you from the mail-server used by Ceredigion County Council. Log details from that server are shown below. If the the contents of our last message has not been downloaded to the person who is dealing with our FOI request, then for the convenience of your IT administrator this information may be of assistance:

2017-01-07 10:54:37 [8394] 1cPodx-0002BO-K9 <= request-375445-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com U=foi P=local S=5901 id=[email address] T="Re: Diolch am eich neges e-bost | Thank you for your enquiry" from <request-375445-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com> for [email address] [email address]
2017-01-07 10:54:38 [8398] 1cPodx-0002BO-K9 => [email address] F=<request-375445-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com> P=<request-375445-[REDACTED]@whatdotheyknow.com> R=send_to_smarthost T=remote_smtp S=6072 H=ocelot.ukcod.org.uk [46.43.39.78]:25 X=TLS1.2:DHE_RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:128 CV=no DN="CN=mx0.mysociety.org" C="250 OK id=1cPody-0001NE-0L" QT=1s DT=1s

Unless we receive confirmation within three working days i.e. the 18th of January 2017 of your receipt of our correspondences and a clear reason (if there is one) for the delay in responding, or - of course - a full response to our original F.O.I. request dated the 5th of December 2016 along with copies of all the documents requested - we will be requesting an internal review at Ceredigion County Council of this matter. Should that action prove unsatisfactory, then we will be making a further complaint to the Information Commissioner.

We sincerely hope that we do not need to refer to such recourse. We therefore look forward to your prompt response to this message, and will expect to hear from you shortly or in any event no later than Wednesday the 18th of January 2017.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion Technical Services, Ceredigion County Council

Dear Sir/Madam

Further to your Freedom of Information request dated 05 December 2016 and my acknowledgement of 06 December 2016.

Unfortunately it is taking longer than anticipated to collate the information and we will not be able to provide you with a response until the week commencing 30 January 2017.

Please accept my apologies for this delay.

Yours sincerely

Mair Hemming
Business Support Team Leader
for Paul Arnold
Head of Technical Services

show quoted sections

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion Technical Services,
F.A.O. Mair Hemming

Unfortunately we cannot accept your apologies for the delay.

C.C.C. have exhausted the stipulated time limit of twenty days to provide a proper response to our FOI request that was lodged with the Authority on the 5th of December 2016. This is the reasonable time set by the Freedom of Information Act for responses to requests. There were no initial queries regarding our request.

You acknowledged receipt of that request, and further informed us that if there was a reason for delay that you would provide us with that reason for delay - before the deadline of January 6th 2017. You failed to so. Despite our reminders you still resisted responding until we advised you that we would be seeking an internal inquiry.

Our original FOI request was straightforward. You can immediately inform us with a simple 'yes' or 'no' to whether your Authority holds possessory title to the land we were enquiring about. If you can reply in the affirmative, then you can provide the necessary documentation evidence later.

Under the circumstances, we are not prepared to wait any longer for your response. Whilst you have informed us that you are being 'delayed' you have provided no details of that delay. It is unreasonable to expect us to wait on you whilst you "collate" documents.

Unless we receive a response, or partial response of a 'yes' or 'no' to whether the Authority has possessory title, by the close of your office on Friday the 20th of this month, then we will be applying for an internal inquiry on that day.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion Technical Services, Ceredigion County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Sir / Madam

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request emails dated 5 December
and 17 January.  Ceredigion County Council apologises for the delay in
responding to your request and can responds as follows:

 

I confirm that the land referred to in your Freedom of Information request
is owned by Ceredigion County Council, and was purchased as part of a
larger area of land in 1938.  The Council does not hold the land by means
of possessory title.  The land referred to in your request, known as Cae
Ffynnon Win, is presently let to an allotment association on a formal
lease basis, and prior to that was leased to Bryn Aeron Nurseries for many
years.  I attach copies of the following documents for your information:

 

1.    An agreement for sale dated 1 December 1937 between A H Jarrard Esq
and The Cardiganshire County Council

2.    A conveyance dated 10 May 1938 between A H Gerrard and the County
Council for the Administrative County of Cardigan

3.    A plan showing the land conveyed to the said Council, which includes
the land referred to in your request

4.    A plan showing the land in Ceredigion County Council’s ownership
outlined in red, which includes the land referred to in your request

 

If you have any complaints regarding this reply, please write to Mr Alun
Williams, Head of Policy Support, Ceredigion County Council, Penmorfa,
Aberaeron, Ceredigion SA46 OPA or by email to [1][Ceredigion County Council request email]. 
If this fails to resolve the matter to your satisfaction, you have the
right to apply to the Information Commissioner.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Neil Hinchliffe

Chief Estates Officer

For Paul Arnold

Head of Technical Services

 

 

show quoted sections

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Mr. Hinchliffe,
(Chief Estates Officer For Paul Arnold Head of Technical Services Ceredigion Technical Services)

Thank you for the information you have provided so far. However it is insufficient and does not fully address the request made under the FOI Act 2000, which we originally submitted to your Authority on the 5th of December 2016. Furthermore only 4 of the 14 page PDF file that you produced with copies of documents are readable.

In our FOI request we specifically requested evidence of Ceredigion County Council’s proof of ownership of a specific parcel of land, which is identified on the Ordnance Survey map reference SN4562SE as SN 24584, 26257. We have no interest in the ownership of the ‘larger’ estate known as ‘Pencarreg Farm’.

The documents you provided show partial conveyancing paperwork associated with the ‘Pencarreg Fawr and Morfa Cilgwgan Fields’. These are particulars of sales by Albert Henry Jarrad of portions of the Monachty Estate. Whilst the parcel of land referred to above, which is commonly called ‘Cae Ffynnon Wîn’ and (identified as SN24584, 26257), originally formed part of the ‘larger’ Pencarreg Farm Estate, from our research, it was sold at auction on the 26th of June 1936. The particulars are as follows:
Name and address of PURCHASER:
Timothy Hughes Davies, John Thomas Davies and Judith Davies of 11 Water Street, Aberaeron.
Description of Property:
A piece of land formerly part of Cae Ffynnon Wîn, Pencarreg containing one half an acre or there-abouts in the occupation of the purchasers. Part of Field 23 on Plan attached to Lease. Part of lot 64.
Date sale completed:
June 23rd 1936.
(A copy of the original document is available for viewing at:
http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/pdfs/... )

As we have previously pointed out, a Land Registry search (Certificate Ref': 162 /R43ILLB
Certificate Date: 19 NOV 2014) confirms that this land is NOT currently registered.

As you have affirmed that Ceredigion County Council does not hold the land by means
of possessory title, then it is assumed that IF the Council DO own the land, then the Authority would have proof of absolute title in it’s possession. Consequently we reiterate that we require documentary evidence of:
1. proof of absolute title to the land by Ceredigion County Council,
2. a copy of the deeds for that land, and,
3. a copy of the conveyancing paperwork if the land was subsequently purchased by C.C.C. from the owners, Timothy Hughes Davies, John Thomas Davies and Judith Davies of 11 Water Street, Aberaeron, who originally purchase the land from Albert Henry Jarrad on the 23rd of June 1936.

Whilst you draw attention to the fact that Ceredigion County Council have rented the field to Brynaeron Nursery in the past, and currently licence the land to a private allotments group, this does not in any way prove ownership. A further issue that may have to be addressed – if C.C.C. ncannot provide evidence of ownership is the procurement of grants from sources in the past, totalling we believe £10,000 or there-abouts, for improvement of the field around 2009/2010.

We will expect a response from you by Monday the 30th of January 2017 (five working days), otherwise we will be requesting an internal inquiry, as we have already brought to your attention in earlier correspondences.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion Technical Services, Ceredigion County Council

Mae hon yn neges awtomatig a anfonir er mwyn cydnabod derbyn eich e-bost.

 

A fyddech cystal â nodi y caiff unrhyw gais am wasanaeth ei anfon ymlaen
at yr adran berthnasol fel y gallant ddelio ag ef.  Bydd y mater yn cael
ei archwilio a’i ddelio fel yn briodol.

 

Dylech fod yn ymwybodol taw yn oriau arferol y swyddfa yr ymdrinnir â’r
e-byst yma.

 

Os bydd gennych argyfwng yn ymwneud â phriffyrdd y tu allan i oriau
arferol swyddfa ffoniwch 01970 625277 (Gogledd Ceredigion) neu 01239
851604 (De Ceredigion).  Os bydd gennych argyfwng yn ymwneud ag eiddo y tu
allan i oriau arferol swyddfa ffoniwch 0300 1231199.

 

 

This is an automated message to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail.

 

Please note that requests for service will be forwarded on receipt to the
appropriate section for action.  The matter will be investigated and dealt
with accordingly.

 

Please be aware that this mailbox is only administered during normal
office hours.

 

For Highways emergencies outside office hours please telephone 01970
625277 (North Ceredigion) or 01239 851604 (South Ceredigion).  For
Property emergencies outside office hours please telephone 0300 1231199.

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Ceredigion Technical Services, Ceredigion County Council

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your email of 23 January 2017. We are making further enquiries and we will try to get the information to you as soon as possible.

I hope that this information will be of assistance to you, but as previously stated, if you have any complaints in relation to this FOI response the Council does operate an internal appeals procedure. If you wish to utilise this procedure then please write to, Mr Alun Williams, Cyngor Sir Ceredigion County Council, Neuadd Cyngor Ceredigion, Penmorfa, Aberaeron, Ceredigion, SA46 OPA or via email through [Ceredigion County Council request email].

Yours sincerely

Mair Hemming
Business Support Team Leader
for Paul Arnold
Head of Technical Services

show quoted sections

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Mair Hemming,
(Business Support Team Leader for Paul Arnold - Ceredigion Head of Technical Services)

Thank you for your response in reply to our most recent correspondence. We are aware that Mr. Alun Williams is responsible for any appeals procedure.

At this stage we have written in response to Mr. Neil Hinchliffe, who has been given until the end of day on Monday the 31st of January to reply in full -with the valid information requested. As you will note, the previous information he provided was unsatisfactory.

The information originally requested should have been presented to us by Ceredigion County Council by the 6th of January 2017. It is now overdue by nineteen days - which is in gross contravention of the guidelines set out by statute of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Failure to provide the information requested by Monday the 31st of January 2017 will, without further notice, trigger a request by us for an internal inquiry. Mr. Neil Hinchliffe has been made aware of this, as you have in previous correspondence. We believe that we have exercised great patience in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion Technical Services, Ceredigion County Council

Mae hon yn neges awtomatig a anfonir er mwyn cydnabod derbyn eich e-bost.

 

A fyddech cystal â nodi y caiff unrhyw gais am wasanaeth ei anfon ymlaen
at yr adran berthnasol fel y gallant ddelio ag ef.  Bydd y mater yn cael
ei archwilio a’i ddelio fel yn briodol.

 

Dylech fod yn ymwybodol taw yn oriau arferol y swyddfa yr ymdrinnir â’r
e-byst yma.

 

Os bydd gennych argyfwng yn ymwneud â phriffyrdd y tu allan i oriau
arferol swyddfa ffoniwch 01970 625277 (Gogledd Ceredigion) neu 01239
851604 (De Ceredigion).  Os bydd gennych argyfwng yn ymwneud ag eiddo y tu
allan i oriau arferol swyddfa ffoniwch 0300 1231199.

 

 

This is an automated message to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail.

 

Please note that requests for service will be forwarded on receipt to the
appropriate section for action.  The matter will be investigated and dealt
with accordingly.

 

Please be aware that this mailbox is only administered during normal
office hours.

 

For Highways emergencies outside office hours please telephone 01970
625277 (North Ceredigion) or 01239 851604 (South Ceredigion).  For
Property emergencies outside office hours please telephone 0300 1231199.

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion County Council (FoI Department),

We made a Freedom of Information request to Ceredigion County Council on the 5th of December 2016. Whilst an automated acknowledgement of receipt was received,from the Technical Services Department, (which was the appropriate department dealing with the request) they did not respond with a reply to the request within the stipulated time period set out under the provisions of the Freedom Of Information Act 2000.
Since then we have corresponded with Ceredigion C.C.'s Technical services Department on a number of occasions, pointing out that the delay experienced was in contravention of the said Act. Furthermore no reason for the delay was given.
Finally, Mr. Neil Hinchliffe (the Chief Estates Officer for the council) provided information that was incomplete and irrelevant. We corrected this by answering Mr. Hinchliffe on the 23 January 2017.
Here is a hyperlink to that correspondence:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...
In that correspondence, we provided documentary proof that his information - on behalf of C.C.C.was incorrect. We also stipulated that if we did not receive a satisfactory reply from him by the the close of office hours on Monday, the 30th of January 2017, we would - without further notice - be requesting an internal inquiry. That deadline has now passed without a response from Mr. Hinchliffe. We are therefore now making a formal request for Ceredigion County Council to instigate an internal inquiry into this matter.

Yours faithfully,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion Reception, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost – bydd yn derbyn sylw’r gwasanaeth priodol yn
ei dro.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate service in due course.

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Dear Sirs,

 

Thank you for your e-mail requesting an Internal Review.

 

We will be in further contact once we have more information.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

FOI Team

 

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information,

Thank you for your response to our request for an internal review - following Ceredigion Technical Services' failure to provide an accurate and transparent response to our FoI request that was made on the 5th of December 2016, and which is now unacceptably overdue.

.We look forward to hearing from you again at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost a fydd yn cael sylw gan y swyddog cyswllt
priodol maes o law.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate link officer

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information,

On the 30th of January 2017, we requested an internal review, due to the failure of Ceredigion County Council's Technical Services department to provide a satisfactory response to our Freedom of Information (FoI) request, dated the 5th of December 2016, and subsequent correspondence after that date. On the 31st of January 2017 we acknowledged a response by the authority's FoI team showing that you were in receipt of our request for an internal review.

It is now five working days since that request for an internal review was formally lodged with the authority.

Can you please provide us with an estimated timeline of when you intend to
1. begin the process of an internal review (if it has not already begun),
2. how long you expect it to take and
3. when we can expect to receive your findings.

If we do not receive that information, or you fail to provide a realistic timeline for the process, then by Thursday the 16th of this month (February 2017), we will be taking the appropriate steps to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost a fydd yn cael sylw gan y swyddog cyswllt
priodol maes o law.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate link officer

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Aeron Vale Allotments Trust ,

 

I sincerely apologise for the lack of information in the acknowledgement
you have received in regards to your Internal Review. I hope to reassure
you that Ceredigion County Council have commenced the Internal Review
process and will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible,
but no later than 20 working days.

 

I hope this is of assistance to you. If you have any queries please do not
hesitate to contact the team.

 

Your sincerely,

 

Amelia Davies

Swyddog Gweinyddol Rhyddid Gwybodaeth

Freedom of Information Administrative Officer

Tîm Cwynion a Rhyddid Gwybodaeth

Complaints & FoI Team 

Cyngor Sir Ceredigion County Council

Penmorfa

Aberaeron

SA46 0PA

 

E-Bost / E-Mail: [1][Ceredigion County Council request email]

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Amelia Davies (Ceredigion C.C. Freedom of Information Administrative Officer),

Thank you for your prompt response to our latest request for information regarding the internal review that has been requested, appertaining to our original FoI request dated the 5th of December 2016.

We are pleased to note that the review process has been started by you. Assuming the process is not going to take longer than the maximum of twenty days that you stipulated, then we are prepared to wait for the outcome, but hope that it will be resolved much sooner.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost a fydd yn cael sylw gan y swyddog cyswllt
priodol maes o law.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate link officer

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Amelia Davies (Ceredigion C.C. Freedom of Information Administrative Officer),

On the 30th of January 2017, we requested an internal review, due to the failure of Ceredigion County Council's Technical Services department to provide a satisfactory response to our Freedom of Information (FoI) request, dated the 5th of December 2016, and subsequent correspondence after that date.

On the 7th of February 2017, you wrote:

[quote]
"I hope to reassure you that Ceredigion County Council have commenced the Internal Review process and will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, but no later than 20 working days."
[end of quote]

It is now the 7th of March 2017, and we have not received any further correspondence from you. It is passed the deadline of twenty working days, that you set for yourself in your previous correspondence dated the 7th of February 2017.

As you have failed to inform us of the findings of the internal review, or any updates on your progress, within the time-line that you stipulated, you now leave us with no alternative, other than to make a formal request to the Information Commissioner to investigate the unsatisfactory way that our FoI request has been dealt with by various departments within Ceredigion County Council.

We will therefore - without further notice to you - be contacting the Information Commissioner at our earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost a fydd yn cael sylw gan y swyddog cyswllt
priodol maes o law.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate link officer

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Dear Sirs,

Many thanks for your e-mail.

I wish to sincerely apologise for the delay in responding to your Internal Review and that you have not been kept up to date with the progress. I have however been in communication with the appropriate Department that would assist me with the information you have requested and I have reminded them of the urgency of this request.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team

show quoted sections

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information,

Thank you for responding to our earlier message that was sent to you today.

Unfortunately, I have to inform you at this stage, that a formal complaint was lodged with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) this afternoon. We can send you a copy of the complaint if you wish.

We believe that we have been extremely patient in our dealings with Ceredigion County Council, and we have repeatedly reminded them of their obligations in this matter. We have also, on several occasions, pointed out that a continual delay in providing a proper and accurate response to our request would culminate in the action that we have taken this day. It is now a full three months since we made our initial FoI request to your authority. We are of the belief that we are fully justified in our most recent action.

If you had kept us informed of your progress in conducting your internal review and/ or kept us abreast of your progress - as you promised you would - then this latest action may have been averted. However, under the circumstances, I'm sure you'll understand that these matters cannot be delayed indefinitely, and a line has to drawn at some point.

We presume that the ICO will be in touch with you in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost a fydd yn cael sylw gan y swyddog cyswllt
priodol maes o law.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate link officer

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust left an annotation ()

COMPLAINT TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONERS OFFICE (ICO).

A formal complaint (dated the 7th of March 2017) regarding Ceredigion County Council's conduct in this matter has now been lodged with the ICO.

A copy of that complaints is shown below:

"Dear Sir/ Madam,

we are contacting you to make a complaint about the lack of a proper response, regarding a Freedom of Information (FoI) request we made to Ceredigion County Council on the 5th of December 2016. Please refer to the attached PDF files that contain the ICO form duly completed and a copy of the full correspondence (2 files) between ourselves and Ceredigion County Council - dating from the 5th of December 2016 to the present (7th of March 2017).

The FoI response from the authority was initially over the 20 day statutory period that requests should be responded to. Despite numerous prompts from us, the authority continually delayed their responses. Eventually, the information we requested was reluctantly provided, but it turned out to be totally inadequate, inaccurate and irrelevant. We responded by pointing this out, and further asked that the proper information be presented to us. After that point we received no further information from Mr. Neil Hinchliffe of the authority's Technical Services department that was dealing with the original request.

Eventually we asked for an internal review to be conducted by the authority. This request was acknowledged, and we were informed that they would provide us with their findings within another twenty days. However, Amelia Davies the Ceredigion County Council Freedom of Information Administrative Officer has not responded within the time period of twenty days - as she stipulated she would in her last correspondence to us, which was on the 7th of February 2017. We have today contacted Amelia Davies once again, to inform her that her lack of action would result in an official complaint being made to the Information Commissioner's Office. We are now augmenting that notice.

I look forward to your responses in due course.

Yours faithfully,

Chair of Trustees, Aeron Vale Allotments Trust"

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust left an annotation ()

Copy of Letter Dated March 27th 2017 From The Information Commissioner's Office to Ceredigion County Council
_________________________________________________

27th March 2017
Case Reference Number FS50671293

Dear Sir/Madam

Your reference: 1240
Complaint from Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

The Information Commissioner has received a complaint from Aeron Vale Allotments Trust stating that they have not received a decision regarding the internal review they requested on 23/01/17. The information request was dealt with under your reference cited above.

Guidance
The Commissioner has issued guidance regarding the time limits on carrying out internal reviews. The Commissioner considers that a reasonable time for completing an internal review is 20 working days from the date of the request for review, and in no case should the total time taken exceed 40 working days.

A full copy of this guidance is available on our website (www.ico.org.uk) under the Freedom of Information guidance section.

Enforcement
The Commissioner wants to ensure that a complainant has exhausted a public authority’s internal review procedure, but at the same time the complainant should not be unreasonably delayed in having his complaint considered under section 50.

Internal reviews are referred to in the section 45 Code of Practice, and significant or repeated unreasonable delays in dealing with internal reviews will be monitored by the Enforcement team. In some instances regulatory action may be necessary.

More details about the Commissioner’s FOI Regulatory Action Policy are available on our website using the following links:

http://ico.org.uk/what_we_cover/taking_a...

Actions
If it is the case that you have not issued an internal review decision to Aeron Vale Allotments Trust we recommend that you do so within 20 working days from the date of receipt of this letter.

If you have, in fact, already responded to Aeron Vale Allotments Trust, and believe that your response should already have been received we would recommend you contact them to confirm receipt if you have not already done so.

If you need to contact us about this complaint I can be contacted on the number below. Please quote the reference number at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely

Jim Dunn (01625 545673)
Case Officer
Information Commissioner’s Office

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Dear Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information,

We have today received a copy of a letter that has been sent to Ceredigion County Council (CCC) from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This is following a formal complaint made to the ICO by us. The complaint was made following a delay in response from CCC to a request made by us on the 23 of January 2017 for an internal review. The original request for an internal review was triggered as a consequence of CCC's Technical Services Department's prolonged failure to respond satisfactorily to a Freedom of Information Request made by us on the 5th of December 2016.

A copy of the letter sent from the ICO to CCC on the 27th of March 2017 can be viewed at this URL address:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

You will note that the ICO have asked that a satisfactory response to our request for an internal review report by the Authority be made to us forthwith - and in any case within the next 20 working days.

We trust that you will now co-operate fully with the ICO in fulfilling the demand that they have made upon you. We further hope that you will abide by their demand, in order to avert any further enforcement action by the ICO.

We again reiterate what we have stated in past correspondence, that at this stage a simple "yes" or "no" confirmation of whether CCC have absolute or possessory title to the land referred to in our our original FoI request is the case. If the CCC respond with a "yes" then we will require documentary evidence to support that response. You will be aware that the original response from the Technical Services Department was unsatisfactory, as we have documentary evidence that the land in question was in fact purchased by other individuals on the 23rd of June 1936. There is no further proof that this land has since then legally come into the possession of CCC.

We hope that CCC will now respond with urgency, so that we can bring this matter to a conclusion

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost a fydd yn cael sylw gan y swyddog cyswllt
priodol maes o law.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate link officer

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

4 Attachments

Chair of Trustees,

 

Please find attached a letter of response following correspondence from
the Information Commissioner’s Office following your complaint in regards
to your Freedom of Information request.

 

I have copied in Mr Jim Dunn, ICO Caseworker, for his information.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Alun Williams

Head of Policy Support

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust

F.A.O. Mr. Alun Williams (Head of Policy Support)
Your Ref.: AW/N-JW/IR10523
Case Reference Number FS50671293

Dear Mr. Williams,

Thank you for your reply bearing the above references and dated the 11th of April 2017. It has been transferred to us via the Freedom of Information (FoI) web-site's system, and has been published by that site's administrators for public viewing. It contained an attachment with an accompanying letter from you that is available for viewing at:
http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/CCC_F...
Your reply also contained other files with no relevance to this matter, as we have explained previously and again below.

We are disappointed that we have to inform you that your reply is wholly inappropriate and contains information that is totally irrelevant to the subject matter of our original FoI request. It is quite simply a recycled version of the reply we received from your Mr. Hinchliffe (Chief Estates Officer For Paul Arnold - Head of Technical Services), dated the 20th of January 2017. Please refer to it via this link:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e....
This is now a cause of serious concern to us, as it appears - at face value - that there is an attempt being instigated to wilfully withhold information by the use of delaying tactics and the deliberate repetition of inappropriate and irrelevant information - that you have been made clearly aware of in the past - is both incorrect and inadequate.

A comprehensive reply was sent to Mr. Hinchliffe, outlining why his information (which has been replicated by you) was insufficient and does not fully address the FoI request made and submitted to your Authority on the 5th of December 2016. Here is a link to that reply we sent to Mr. Hinchliffe. We suggest you make a detailed reading of it it again and note it’s content, as it refers to many points that you have repeated in your response letter to us.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...
We would like to raise some other points in your letter dated the 11th of April 2017. In para. 3 you state:
“You have raised a query relating to the sale-off of land to the Davies’ contained within the earlier Agreement for sale dated 01/12/1937 however this is simply a reference to land which had already been sold off by the previous owner and which did not therefore form part of the sale plan in the 1938 Conveyance.”
We did not raise any query relating to any earlier Agreement for sale dated 01/12/1937. To our knowledge there is no ‘earlier Agreement’ of that date that we have had sight or knowledge of.

What we DID provide was documentary evidence showing that the document bundle Mr. Hinchliffe provided, showing partial conveyancing paperwork associated with the ‘Pencarreg Fawr and Morfa Cilgwgan Fields’ were inaccurate. The information provided by Mr. Hinchliffe are particulars of sales by Albert Henry Jarrard (acting for R. A. Rotheram & Co. Solicitors, Coventry) of portions of the Monachty Estate, with conveyance dated 10 May 1938 between A H Gerrard and the County Council for the Administrative County of Cardigan. Whilst the parcel of land referred to in our FoI request, (which is commonly called ‘Cae Ffynnon Wîn’ and identified as SN24584, 26257 on the OS map), originally formed part of the ‘larger’ Pencarreg Farm Estate. That particular field (Cae Ffynnon Wîn), from our research, was sold previously at auction on the 26th of June 1936. The particulars are as follows:
Name and address of PURCHASER:
Timothy Hughes Davies, John Thomas Davies and Judith Davies of 11 Water Street, Aberaeron.
Description of Property:
A piece of land formerly part of Cae Ffynnon Wîn, Pencarreg containing one half an acre or there-abouts in the occupation of the purchasers. Part of Field 23 on Plan attached to Lease. Part of lot 64. Date sale completed:
June 23rd 1936.
A copy of the original document is available for viewing at:
http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/pdfs/...
It is clearly evident that the field known as ‘Cae Ffynnon Wîn’ ( identified as SN24584, 26257 on the OS map) was purchased by Timothy Hughes Davies, John Thomas Davies and Judith Davies of 11 Water Street, Aberaeron. They originally purchase the land from Albert Henry Jarrard on the 23rd of June 1936. Your own documentation shows, the subsequent (other) land purchased by Ceredigion County Council in 1938 (two years later) was also from Albert Henry Jarrard. You can view a copy of the 1936 document from this link:
http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/pdfs/...
The relevant information is boxed in red for you.

Failing proof by presentation of conveyancing/ purchase paperwork that the land was subsequently sold to the County Council for the Administrative County of Cardigan or later transferred or sold on to C.C.C. from the rightful owners, Timothy Hughes Davies, John Thomas Davies and Judith Davies, (who originally purchase the land from Albert Henry Jarrard on the 23rd of June 1936), one arrives at a logical assumption that the field in question is in fact still owned by the Davies’ descendent family to this day. The outline plan that you have, which erroneously includes that field, is either a mistake or a presumption, as Cae Ffynnon Wîn (whilst it may lie inside the boundary of your map) does not provide evidence of legal title to the land by the Authority.

Also in your response you take issue that the land in question is now licensed by you to a group of individuals who recognise themselves as Aberaeron Allotment Association. As we have previously pointed out to your Mr. Hinchliffe, quote:

“Whilst you draw attention to the fact that Ceredigion County Council have rented the field to Brynaeron Nursery in the past, and currently licence the land to a private allotments group, this does not in any way prove ownership”.

It is of absolutely no interest whatsoever to us who the land is licensed to at present, as we’ve already pointed out, it is an irrelevance and has no bearing on our specific FoI request. Why therefore you sent us a copy of licence contracts that you have with the current incumbents is a total mystery to us, and serves as nothing more than a red herring. However, whilst you bring this subject up, you should note that any contract entered into between C.C.C. and any group that is not properly constituted, may not be a valid legal document. We are led to believe that the group you mention, and to whom you have licensed the use of the land to, were a ‘non legal body corporate’ at the time of signing the licence contract (not being at the time a properly constituted body). As you will be aware having ‘legal personality’ - which means to be capable of holding legal rights and obligations within a legal system, such as entering into contracts, suing, and being sued etc. requires that an organisation is officially recognised as a Legal Entity. If a group does not have a proper constitution it cannot have a legal entity. This, as we have said, is of absolutely no interest to us and is an irrelevance to our FoI request. We simply mention it to you, as you seem to have some kind of fixation on the matter of renting this field to others, despite the fact that we cannot get you to prove your right of possession to it. If it is proved that you are in fact trespassing on this field, and illegally renting it out to others, then by extension they can rightly be viewed as ‘squatters’.

Our original FoI request was lodged with Ceredigion County Council (CCC) on the 5th of December 2016. It is now a full four months since that formal request for information was made. The request was simple and straightforward please refer to it via this link:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...
You will note that the land that the original request for information is referring to specifically is “a parcel of land identified on the Ordnance Survey map with reference SN4562SE as SN 24584, 26257”. It is further referred to as ‘Cae Ffynnon Wîn’ in documents related to it’s purchase. There is no information yet forthcoming from C.C.C. that it owns the freehold to the land absolutely. We only mentioned ‘possessory title’ in our original FoI request, because we were not satisfied that the Authority may not have attempted to obtain title by adverse possession i.e. so-called ‘Squatters Rights’. However, In September 2012 squatting in England and Wales became a criminal offence, but we are sure you are fully aware of that.

We will now be contacting Mr. J. Dunn who is the Investigating Officer on behalf of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) with whom we lodged our original complaint. We will be outlining for Mr. Dunn our dissatisfaction with the way your internal enquiry has been conducted, and furthermore the way that C.C.C. have reacted to our original FoI request, which is still unfulfilled.

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust Board of Trustees

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Diolch am eich neges e-bost a fydd yn cael sylw gan y swyddog cyswllt
priodol maes o law.

 

Thank you for your e-mail communication which will receive attention from
the appropriate link officer

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust left an annotation ()

COPY OF CORRESPONDENCE - April 18th, 2017
FAO Mr. J. Dunn (Case Officer - Information Commissioner's Office)
Case Reference Number FS50671293
=======================================================

Dear Mr. Dunn,

Firstly thank you for returning my telephone call this afternoon.
Regarding the above case number. We received a reply on the 11th of this month from Mr. Alun Williams, (copy attached) the Head of Policy Support at Ceredigion County Council - also at: (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...).

I have today replied to his response (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...)

I think the contents are self explanatory. As you can probably glean from the reply that's been sent to him, we are extremely displeased with the Authority's responses (or rather failure to respond adequately) up to this time.

They have dawdled in their responses (the original request was lodged on the 5th of December 2016). Since then they have dragged their feet. Eventually we requested an internal review. The response to that also expired their stipulated response time according to the FoI Act. As you know we then made a complaint to the ICO.

What we have now received from them, following your contact with their FoI department, is a rehashed letter that they sent to us back in January, the 20th. We are extremely frustrated by all of this, and still without the information we requested or replies to our correspondence since then.

Can I kindly ask that you now push forward with our complaint, so that we can in some way get the information we've requested from them?

Yours sincerely,

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust (Chair of Trustees)

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

Dear Sirs,

Many thanks for your e-mail dated 18th April 2017.

I wish to confirm that we are in receipt of communication from the Information Commissioner's Officer in regards to your complaint about the handling or your Internal Review into your Freedom of Information request and we shall fully co-operate with their enquiries.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team

show quoted sections

Aeron Vale Allotments Trust left an annotation ()

Response via e-mail from Joanne Edwards
Senior Case Officer (Information Commissioner's Office)

-------- Message --------
Subject: Your complaint against Ceredigion County Council - case reference number FS50671293[Ref. FS50671293]
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2017 14:36:56 +0100
From: casework@ico.org.uk
To: admin@aeronvale-allotments.org.uk
=========================================================
Case reference number: FS50671293
7 August 2017

F.A.O. Aeron Vale Allotments Trust
Information request to Ceredigion County Council (‘the Council’)

Further to our previous correspondence regarding your complaint against the Council, I can confirm that your case has now been allocated to me to investigate.

In order to reach a decision as to whether the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the FOIA’) has been correctly applied, I will need to carry out a thorough investigation. This may take me some time as I will need to ensure that I am aware of all the relevant facts and that I carefully consider the application of the law to those facts.

Where possible the Commissioner prefers complaints to be resolved by informal means. If this does not prove to be possible, she will usually issue a decision notice to you and the public authority once an investigation has been completed. This will inform you of her decision and the reasons for it.

Where the Commissioner decides that a request has not been handled properly she may specify what steps he believes are necessary to remedy the situation. This can include requiring a public authority to release information which has previously been withheld. A copy of the decision notice will be placed on our website (with your details omitted). If you disagree with the decision that has been reached you have a legal right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights).

An appraisal of the correspondence to date

I note that there has been a considerable amount of correspondence between yourself and the Council. Below I have referred to the key documents relevant to the request.

On 5 December 2016 you wrote to the Council and requested information in the following terms:

“Land Registry records indicate that a parcel of land identified on the Ordnance Survey map reference SN4562SE as SN 24584, 26257 is not registered.

Certificate Ref': 162 /R43ILLB
Certificate Date: 19 NOV 2014

This land is currently being licensed by Ceredigion County Council for use by a private user.

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) we request that you provide the following:

1 Proof of Absolute title to the land by Ceredigion County Council.
2 A copy of the deeds - if available. Or failing 1 & 2
3 documentary evidence setting out proof of legal Possessory title and
4 all other relevant documentation indicating record of previous ownership/ recent and historic ownership transactions Documents recording any other various methods of conveying property or land proving entitlement to ownership of the land referred to above”.

The Council responded on 20 January 2017 and confirmed that it owned the land referred to in the request and that it was purchased as part of a larger area of land in 1938. The Council also explained that it did not hold the land by means of possessory title. The Council provided a number of documents it considered relevant to the request including an agreement for sale, a conveyance and two plans.

On 23 January 2017 you wrote back to the Council stating that it had not fully addressed the request. Firstly you advised that one of the documents provided by the Council was very poor quality and difficult to read. You pointed out that you had specifically requested evidence of the Council’s proof of ownership of a specific piece of land and had no interest in the ownership of the ‘larger’ estate known as ‘Pencarreg Farm’. You pointed out that, as the Council had confirmed that it did not hold the land by possessory title, if it owns the land then it would hold proof of absolute title. You repeated the contents of your request of 5 December 2016.
On 30 January 2017 the complainant formally requested an internal review of the Council’s handling of the request.

The Council provided the outcome of its internal review on 11 April 2017. In relation to parts 1 and 2 of the request the Council provided a better quality of the certified copy of the deed in question. The Council explained that the land shown on the plan was conveyed to its predecessor authority and the land was now held by the Council as successor in title. The Council provided an epitome of title showing the devolution of title. The Council also responded to the query raised about a sale-off of and to the Davies’ contained within the Agreement for Sale dated 1/12/37. The Council stated that part 3 of the request was not applicable as it owned the freehold of the land absolutely therefore possessory title is not applicable. In relation to part 4 of the request the Council provided copies of allotment licenses granted in 2008 and 2009, with names and addresses of third parties redacted under section 40(2) of the FOIA.

Following receipt of the Council’s internal review response you responded stating out that the Council has still not fully addressed the original request. You again pointed out that the area which is the subject of your request (the field known as Cae Ffynnon Wîn) was sold by Albert Henry Jarrard to Timothy Hughes Davies, John Thomas Davies and Judith Davies on 23 June 1936. The information that the Council had provided showed the sale and conveyancing for other areas of land ie portions of the Monachty estate which excluded the field known as Cae Ffynnon Wîn. In the absence of any evidence that this particular piece of land was subsequently sold to the Council or its predecessor authority you stated that the logical assumption to make is that it was still owned by the Davies’ descendent. You also pointed out if this is the case, the outline plans provided by the Council which erroneously include the field in question is either a mistake or a presumption. Essentially, your position is that the Council has provided incorrect/irrelevant/inadequate information. The Council has provided proof that it owns some of the land near the site in question, however it has not, to date, provided any recorded information/evidence that it owns the specific land referred to in the request of 5 December 2016 ie Cae Ffynnon Wîn.

The complaint to the Commissioner

You contacted the Commissioner on 18 April 2017 following receipt of the Council’s internal review response to express your dissatisfaction with its handling of the request.

In correspondence with the Council you have indicated that it has provided ‘incorrect’ information, for example, in your communication of 18 April 2017 you have indicated that the outline plan provided by the Council “erroneously includes that field”. Please note that the FOIA is solely concerned with the access to information and does not address the issue of the accuracy of any information provided in response to a request for information. A public authority will have complied with their obligations under the FOIA where they have provided the recorded information that they hold in relation to a request irrespective of whether this information is accurate or not. Therefore we cannot assess the accuracy of any information which the Council has disclosed.

Similarly, I note your concerns about contracts the Council may have entered with ‘the current incumbents’ on the land in question. However, again, these are not matters that the Commissioner has any remit to investigate.

However, the Commissioner does have a role in investigating whether a public authority has identified all of the recorded information held relevant to a request. In light of this, the scope of my investigation will be to determine whether the Council holds any further recorded information relevant to your request of 5 December 2016. I will also be investigating the procedural issues associated with your request ie the delays experienced in the Council’s responses to the original request and the internal review request.

Please contact me as soon as possible if there are matters other than these that you believe should be addressed. This will help avoid any unnecessary delay in investigating your complaint. If I do not hear from you, my investigation will focus only upon the matters identified above.

As I have indicated, the process of reaching a decision may take some time but I will update you on the progress of the investigation as appropriate. However, if you have any queries at any time you are welcome to write to me at the address below, email me or telephone me on 029 2067 8400.

Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales)
2nd Floor
Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH

When responding to an email from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which has been sent via this ‘casework’ account, please ensure that you do so by clicking on the ‘reply’ button. This is to keep the ‘subject’ line of the email in its specific form, which in turn avoids delays in allocating the response to the correct case file. The ICO’s emails are specifically drafted in a format that speeds up this process and corruption of the format will cause delays.

Should you wish to send an email directly to the ‘casework’ account casework@ico.org.uk , please quote your case reference in the subject line of the email in the following format - [Ref. FS50671293]. Please note that there should be a single space between “Ref.” and the case reference number and that the square brackets are required.

It may not be possible for me to respond to enquiries immediately due to other work commitments but I will endeavour to provide a response as promptly as possible.

Yours sincerely

Joanne Edwards
Senior Case Officer

The ICO's mission is to uphold information rights in the public interest. To find out more about our work please visit our website, or subscribe to our e-newsletter at ico.org.uk/newsletter.

If you are not the intended recipient of this email (and any attachment), please inform the sender by return email and destroy all copies without passing to any third parties.

If you'd like us to communicate with you in a particular way please do let us know, or for more information about things to consider when communicating with us by email, visit ico.org.uk/email

Ceredigion CE Freedom Of Information, Ceredigion County Council

6 Attachments

Dear Sirs,

 

Please find attached a copy letter along with the appropriate attachments
following a letter received from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Nerris Jones-Williams [1]cid:image001.png@01CE2172.399186F0

Swyddog Cwynion a Rhyddid Gwybodaeth /

Complaints and Freedom of Information Officer

Cyngor Sir Ceredigion County Council

Penmorfa

Aberaeron

SA46 0PA

 

Rhif Ffon / Tel: 01545 574151

Ffon Symudol / [mobile number]

 

 

Cwynion / Complaints

[2][email address].cymru  / [3][email address]

 

Rhyddid Gwybodaeth / Freedom of Information

[4][email address].cymru  /  [5][Ceredigion County Council request email]

 

--

Ymwadiad:

Er y cymerir pob gofal posib i sicrhau cywirdeb unrhyw wybodaeth a chyngor
a roddir yn yr ohebiaeth hon, ni dderbynnir atebolrwydd am unrhyw
golledion a all godi o unrhyw gamgymeriadau sy'n gynwysedig ac fe'ch
atgoffir o'r angen i chi ofyn am gyngor proffesiynol eich hun.

Bwriedir y neges ebost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau iddi, at sylw'r person(au)
y'i danfonwyd atynt yn unig. Os nad chi yw'r derbynnydd y cyfeiriwyd y
neges hon ato ef neu hi, neu'r person sydd gyfrifol am drosglwyddo'r neges
hon iddo ef neu hi, mi ddylech hysbysu'r anfonwr ar eich union. Oni bai
mai chi yw'r person neu gynrychiolydd y person y cyfeiriwyd y neges hon at
ef neu hi nid ydych wedi eich awdurdodi i, ac ni ddylech chi, ddarllen,
copio, dosbarthu, defnyddio na chadw'r neges hon nac unrhyw gyfran ohoni.

O dan y Ddeddf Amddiffyn Data 1998 a Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 gellir
datgelu cynnwys y negest ebost hon.

Disclaimer:

While reasonable care is taken to ensure the correctness of any
information and advice given in this correspondence no liability is
accepted for losses arising from any errors contained in it and you are
reminded of the need to obtain your own professional advice.

The information in this email and any attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the
intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering this information
to the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless
you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not
authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this
message or any part of it.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the contents of this email may be disclosed.

References

Visible links
2. mailto:[email address].cymru
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address].cymru
5. mailto:[Ceredigion County Council request email]