Failure to complete decontamination at Cheadle Mill residential property

Roedd y cais yn rhannol lwyddiannus.

Dear Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council,

Further to your bland response on 18th June to my Freedom of information Request, which was typical obfuscation did not provide any concrete information, the answers that the Council now needs to answer are:

1. What precisely were the works that the Developer was required to comply with under the approved plans and to remediate the site to remove harmful impact on future occupants and the wider environment?
2. Why precisely did the Council not intervene before building commenced?
3. What surveys have the Council done?
4. What is the objective of GeoAssist, the engineering company now helping the Developer with this matter?
5. What SPECIFIC dangers have been uncovered that will be, as you say, harmful to occupants and the wider environment?
6. Will people living on the site need to be evacuated, or will the buildings need to be demolished??
7. What precisely are the long-term effects on the people who live there?
8. What are the effects on soil and ground water, both short and long term?

I look forward to receiving the Clear and Precise responses to this information.

Yours faithfully,

[Name removed] [Name removed]

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Ms [Name removed]

Thank you for your request for information (FOI 46090) submitted under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which has been given the above mentioned reference number. Please quote this on any correspondence regarding your request.

Stockport Council will respond to your request within 20 working days from the date of receipt. If there will be a charge for disbursements e.g. photocopying in order to provide the information, we will inform you as soon as possible to see if you wish to proceed; however such charges are usually waived if they amount to less than £10.

Yours sincerely,
Fahmida Firdaws
Advanced Apprentice
Information Governance, Stopford House (UG South)
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, SK1 3XE
Tel: 0161 474 4299

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Dear Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Failure to complete decontamination at Cheadle Mill residential property'.

Dear FOI Officer,

There is serious obfuscation in this matter by the senior Planning Officer at the Council, and the probable negligence of the Council in this matter, as well as the outright refusal to inform home buyers and those people who have already purchased properties on the land. I have emails from the Council Planning Officer and notes from conversations with him in which he expresses contempt for the purchasers of land.

I telephoned this morning to follow up on the FOI request and was told that the "legal team was considering an exemption."

I have proof of potential negligence by the Council. I suggest that you furnish a response, as required by law, by the end of today, or further action will be taken- including the media.

Yours sincerely,

[Name removed] [Name removed]

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

Yours faithfully,

[Name removed] [Name removed]

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Ms [Name removed],

 

I am writing in response to your request for information (FOI 46090).
After further consideration, we have decided this request falls more
suitably under the remit of the Environmental Information Regulations
2004.

 

The relevant Council Service(s) has searched for the requested information
and our response is as follows:

                                  

1. What precisely were the works that the Developer was required to comply
with under the approved plans and to remediate the site to remove harmful
impact on future occupants and the wider environment?

The developer was required to comply with Planning Permission DC/017470
 and all of its conditions.

 

 

2. Why precisely did the Council not intervene before building commenced?

It is the responsibility of the developer to ensure that the Planning
Permission is complied with.

 

 

3. What surveys have the Council done?

See Below

 

 

4. What is the objective of GeoAssist, the engineering company now helping
the Developer with this matter?

The Council has not engaged GeoAssist and is therefore not able to answer
the question.  Only the developer could answer this.

 

 

5. What SPECIFIC dangers have been uncovered that will be, as you say,
harmful to occupants and the wider environment?

 

6. Will people living on the site  need to be evacuated, or will the
buildings need to be demolished??

 

7. What precisely are the long-term effects on the people who live there?

 

8. What are the effects on soil and ground water, both short and long
term?

 

With regards to points 3, 5-8 (Inclusive) and having regard to the ICO
guidance, it is considered that regulation 12(5)(b) under the EIR is
engaged and disclosure would adversely affect the ongoing environmental
and planning investigations which are ‘live’ and ongoing.  Disclosure of
the information would prejudice the ongoing investigations which would not
be in the public interest.

 

 

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request for
information, you are entitled to ask for an internal review; however you
must do so within 40 working days of the date of this response. Any
internal review will be carried out by a senior member of staff who was
not involved with your original request. To ask for an internal review,
contact [1][email address] in the first instance.

                          

If you are unhappy with the outcome of any internal review, you are
entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner. To do so, contact:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

[2]www.ico.gov.uk

 

01625 545 745

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Danial Farooq

Freedom of Information Officer

Information Governance, Stopford House (Upper Ground South)

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, SK1 3XE

Tel: 0161 474 2388

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Dear Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Failure to complete decontamination at Cheadle Mill residential property'.

Stockport Council has known about the breach of planning permission for some time. I do not know whether the council became aware of the breach around the 17th May when I discovered it through my own investigations, or whether the Council became aware of this before this date.

In any case, despite taking action to halt the construction on the site after this date, Stockport Council did not see fit, and has still not taken action, to notify residents and those who have already purchased on the site, and those in the course of purchasing.

Neither did the developer, H & H Homes, nor their solicitors, North Ainley.

It now appears that Stockport Council is actively continuing to discourage transparency from interested parties, by using the exemptions provided in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Section 12 (5) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. It would be extremely useful for the Council to specify precisely which one of the 7 exemptions provided by Section 12(5) the Council is basing its refusal to answer this FOI request and provide information to those who will have suffered financial loss on this and whose health may be at risk. However, given the obfuscation of Stockport Council and the contempt that it is currently showing to those to whom it owes a duty of care, I remain unsurprised.

I have notified the local Member of Parliament, Mary Robinson, who is looking into this matter, as are local Councillors.

An internal review of this matter is urgently required as this matter is ongoing and Stockport Council refuses to provide transparency.

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

Yours faithfully,

[Name removed] [Name removed]

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Ms [Name removed],

 

Thank you for your request for an internal review of the abovementioned
Freedom of Information Request.

 

The Freedom of Information Act  demands that reviews should be responded
to within a ‘reasonable time’.

 

Although a specific timescale is not dictated by legislation, Stockport
Council will strive to respond to your review request within 20 working
days from the date of receipt.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Danial Farooq

Freedom of Information Officer

Information Governance, Stopford House (Upper Ground South)

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, SK1 3XE

Tel: 0161 474 2388

 

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Gadawodd Richard Taylor anodiad ()

Following a claim of defamation in the annotation which reproduced the council's response we have now removed it from public view.

The response was largely an upholding on internal review of a refusal, the grounds for which we are not prepared to publish due to defamation risk.

The response did note:

"the planning team have advised that the following historic reports can be viewed by you via an appointment with the planning team. ... The information that can be viewed includes:
* The site investigation and risk assessment report dated 13th October 2004
* The Environmental Statement submitted by Turley’s dated November 2004
* The non-technical summary to the above
* Various consultation responses from the Environment Agency"

An FOI request could be made for these documents, that documents are available to inspect does not make them exempt from disclosure under FOI.

--
Richard, WhatDoTheyKnow.com volunteer

Gadawodd Richard Taylor anodiad ()

It is very unusual for us at WhatDoTheyKnow to decide not to publish
a substantive response to a Freedom of Information request due to
defamation concerns. There have only been two such cases in over half
a million requests which we've handled, both cases involved matters
which were potentially of substantial public interest.

While we at WhatDoTheyKnow are not currently prepared to publish the
council's response due to risks arising from the state of defamation
law we are prepared to make the material available to journalists, and
will consider requests from others such as elected representatives,
and regulators.

We have advertised the fact we are holding this material and have
proactively approached relevant journalists. We understand a number of
journalists are considering the matter.

-- Richard, WhatDoTheyKnow.com volunteer

Gadawodd Richard Taylor anodiad ()

The reference number in the response relates to an application with an address: "Former Standard Chemical Mill Works Mill Lane Cheadle Cheshire".