Expenditure on byways

Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council,

Please provide the following information:

1: A list of maintenance at public expense on the byways open to all traffic in your administrative area in the last 20 years

2: Yearly total expenditure on the byways open to all traffic in your administrative area in the last 20 years

3: Yearly total expenditure on the rights of way network in your administrative area in the last 20 years

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Jones

BGCBC - FOI Requests, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Dear Mr. Jones,

We acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information request and will
liaise with the relevant Department in order to provide a response.

We will endeavour to provide this information within 20 working days.

Yours faithfully

Information Governance Team / Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth

H  Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

       Legal Section, The General Offices, Steel Works Road, Ebbw
Vale, South Wales NP23 6DN

H   Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent

       Mae'r Adain Gyfreithiol, Y Swyddfeydd Cyffredinol, Heol Gwaith Dur,
Glyn Ebwy NP23 6DN

Mae’r Cyngor yn croesawu gohebiarth yn Gymraeg a saesneg a byddwn yn
cyfathrebu gyda chi yn eich dewis iaith, dim ond I chi rhoi gwybod I ni pa
un sydd well gennych. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn creu unrhyw oedi.

The Council welcomes correspondence in Welsh and English and we will
communicate with you in the language of your choice, as long as you let us
know which you prefer. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to any delay.

If you are unhappy with the handling of your request, you can ask us to
review our response. Requests for reviews should be submitted within 40
days of the date of receipt of our response to your original request –
email: [1][Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council request email].

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our review, you can write to the
Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office - Wales

2^nd Floor Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Telephone: 0330 414 6421

Email: [2][email address]

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BGCBC - FOI Requests, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Dear Mr. Jones,

In response to your Freedom of Information request, please see the
Officer's response below.

Please note the information listed below that shows the ROWIP and AIG
grants since 2010

£40,178  2010-11

£28,225  2011-12

£32,124  2012 -13

£26,513  2013-14

£26,786  2014-15

£26,786  2015-16

£26,786  2016-17

£26,252  2017-18

£34,691  2020-21

£54,055  2021-22

I trust this answers your request and if you have any queries please don't
hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

Information Governance Team / Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth

H  Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

       Legal Section, The General Offices, Steel Works Road, Ebbw
Vale, South Wales NP23 6DN

H   Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent

       Mae'r Adain Gyfreithiol, Y Swyddfeydd Cyffredinol, Heol Gwaith Dur,
Glyn Ebwy NP23 6DN

Mae’r Cyngor yn croesawu gohebiarth yn Gymraeg a saesneg a byddwn yn
cyfathrebu gyda chi yn eich dewis iaith, dim ond I chi rhoi gwybod I ni pa
un sydd well gennych. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn creu unrhyw oedi.

The Council welcomes correspondence in Welsh and English and we will
communicate with you in the language of your choice, as long as you let us
know which you prefer. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to any delay.

If you are unhappy with the handling of your request, you can ask us to
review our response. Requests for reviews should be submitted within 40
days of the date of receipt of our response to your original request –
email: [1][Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council request email].

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our review, you can write to the
Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office - Wales

2^nd Floor Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Telephone: 0330 414 6421

Email: [2][email address]

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Dear Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council,

Thank you for your response to my recent information request.

On inspection, it is not clear to me how the information provided relates to the questions asked. Indeed, the response may offer no meaningful answer at all. For those reasons, I would like to request a review.

My request for information asks questions on how the Council has spent its money on the public rights of way network and asks a few simple questions to learn more about whether there has been a fair distribution.

In your answer, you appear to have supplied grant awards for 2 specific projects. While these projects are common, it is however, uncharacteristic for a Council to spend no money outside of these projects. As such, it seems likely this is an unfaithful answer to the information requested. Moreover, much of my request for information is not answered at all.

It may help to reference the responses of your neighbouring Councils. Over the 20 year period, they have undertaken 0 to 15 instances of work on their byways: Mostly minor work, vegetation clearance, surface repair, clearing of obstructions, etc. The costs being largely traceable, having been charged to a cost centre. The total expenditures are executive summaries of the department spending and should be readily available, although one Council has chosen to supply a spreadsheet of the relevant costs codes. Their responses appear to have taken under an hour to produce, well under in some cases.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Jones

BGCBC - FOI Requests, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Dear Mr Jones,

We acknowledge receipt of your request for an Internal Review of this
matter, under the Freedom of Information Act.

We will deal with the review as quickly as possible and will endeavour to
provide this information within 20 working days.

Kind regards,

Information Governance Team / Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth

H  Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

       Legal Section, The General Offices, Steel Works Road, Ebbw
Vale, South Wales NP23 6DN

H   Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent

       Mae'r Adain Gyfreithiol, Y Swyddfeydd Cyffredinol, Heol Gwaith Dur,
Glyn Ebwy NP23 6DN

Mae’r Cyngor yn croesawu gohebiarth yn Gymraeg a saesneg a byddwn yn
cyfathrebu gyda chi yn eich dewis iaith, dim ond I chi rhoi gwybod I ni pa
un sydd well gennych. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn creu unrhyw oedi.

The Council welcomes correspondence in Welsh and English and we will
communicate with you in the language of your choice, as long as you let us
know which you prefer. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to any delay.

If you are unhappy with the handling of your request, you can ask us to
review our response. Requests for reviews should be submitted within 40
days of the date of receipt of our response to your original request –
email: [1][Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council request email].

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our review, you can write to the
Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office - Wales

2^nd Floor Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Telephone: 0330 414 6421

Email: [2][email address]

show quoted sections

Dear Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council,

The statutory period to respond to my request has expired and I want to prompt you

Yours faithfully,
Mr Jones

BGCBC - FOI Requests, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Dear Peter Jones,

We apologise that you are still yet to receive a response and apologise
for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We can confirm that we have contacted the relevant department and will
provide you with a response as soon as possible.

Kind regards

Information Governance Team / Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth

H  Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

       Legal Section, The General Offices, Steel Works Road, Ebbw
Vale, South Wales NP23 6DN

H   Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent

       Mae'r Adain Gyfreithiol, Y Swyddfeydd Cyffredinol, Heol Gwaith Dur,
Glyn Ebwy NP23 6DN

Mae’r Cyngor yn croesawu gohebiarth yn Gymraeg a saesneg a byddwn yn
cyfathrebu gyda chi yn eich dewis iaith, dim ond I chi rhoi gwybod I ni pa
un sydd well gennych. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn creu unrhyw oedi.

The Council welcomes correspondence in Welsh and English and we will
communicate with you in the language of your choice, as long as you let us
know which you prefer. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to any delay.

If you are unhappy with the handling of your request, you can ask us to
review our response. Requests for reviews should be submitted within 40
days of the date of receipt of our response to your original request –
email: [1][Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council request email].

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our review, you can write to the
Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office - Wales

2^nd Floor Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Telephone: 0330 414 6421

Email: [2][email address]

show quoted sections

BGCBC - FOI Requests, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Dear Peter Jones,

We apologise for the delay in responding to you.

We have received further information from the relevant department which we
have provided below.

1: A list of maintenance at public expense on the byways open to all
traffic in your administrative area in the last 20 years

• Unfortunately, records in this format do not exist and would require
generation of new recorded information.

We don’t keep records that relate specifically to byways open to all
traffic and cannot therefore provide the information for points 1 & 2.

2: Yearly total expenditure on the byways open to all traffic in your
administrative area in the last 20 years

• Unfortunately, records in this format do not exist and would require
generation of new recorded information.

3: Yearly total expenditure on the rights of way network in your
administrative area in the last 20 years

• Figures for expenditure of the Rights of Way Improvement Grant, being
the principle source of funding used by the Council for PROW schemes,
has previously been provided.

I trust this answers your request and if you have any queries please don't
hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Information Governance Team / Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth

H  Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

       Legal Section, The General Offices, Steel Works Road, Ebbw
Vale, South Wales NP23 6DN

H   Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent

       Mae'r Adain Gyfreithiol, Y Swyddfeydd Cyffredinol, Heol Gwaith Dur,
Glyn Ebwy NP23 6DN

Mae’r Cyngor yn croesawu gohebiarth yn Gymraeg a saesneg a byddwn yn
cyfathrebu gyda chi yn eich dewis iaith, dim ond I chi rhoi gwybod I ni pa
un sydd well gennych. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn creu unrhyw oedi.

The Council welcomes correspondence in Welsh and English and we will
communicate with you in the language of your choice, as long as you let us
know which you prefer. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to any delay.

If you are unhappy with the handling of your request, you can ask us to
review our response. Requests for reviews should be submitted within 40
days of the date of receipt of our response to your original request –
email: [1][Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council request email].

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our review, you can write to the
Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office - Wales

2^nd Floor Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Telephone: 0330 414 6421

Email: [2][email address]

show quoted sections