Meetings and emails between Abu Dhabi United Group and MCC [01/01/2013 - 01/04/2013]

The request was refused by Manchester City Council.

Dear Manchester City Council,

Please acknowledge my request is being considered and disclose the following information:

1) Emails to/from professional representatives of “Abu Dhabi United Group” and “Loom Holdings” (including CC'ed in correspondence) in the period between 01/01/2013 – 01/04/2013 in email accounts belonging to any of the following persons:

- the former Council Chief Executive Howard Bernstein,
- the current Council Chief Executive Richard Leese.

Where an email has been identified please disclose the full thread for context. Please search draft and deleted email folders.

2) Please also provide a copy of the report which sets out the financial arrangements between Manchester City Council and “Abu Dhabi United Group” for the “Manchester Life” joint venture.

Yours faithfully,

Steve Goodrich

foi@manchester.gov.uk, Manchester City Council

We acknowledge receipt of your request to Manchester City Council,
concerning:

Meetings and emails between Abu Dhabi United Group and MCC [01/01/2013 -
01/04/2013]

If your request comes under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or
the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), we will aim to
respond as promptly as we can and by no later than 20 working days.
Sometimes an extension to that timescale will apply and we will let you
know if that is the case.

If some or all of your request needs to be considered under processes
other than those provided by FOIA or EIR, different timescales may apply.
In particular, any part of your request that concerns your own personal
information will be considered in line with your rights under data
protection legislation (including the right of access) and we will aim to
provide you with a response in respect of that part of your request
without undue delay and by no later than one calendar month, unless an
extension to that timescale applies (we will let you know if that is the
case).

 

The reference number for your request is FOI/3073.

 

Please note that Manchester City Council is currently handling a large
volume of business critical work aimed towards the protection and
safeguarding of at risk groups during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Accordingly, Freedom of Information/subject access requests made to
Manchester City Council during the COVID-19 outbreak may have a longer
response period than that stated above. The response that you receive may
also not be complete in whole or in part. This is because:

 

* Responding to your request may require business area resource which is
currently directed towards direct aid of members of the public during
the COVID-19 outbreak. Directing resources towards responding to your
request could result in vital care of service not being delivered, and
may expose individuals to COVID-19;?
* Under central government guidance to help prevent the spread of
COVID-19, all Manchester City Council staff who are able to are
working from home until further notice. As such they may not be able
to get hold of certain information which cannot be accessed remotely,
and accessing it would potentially expose the individual to COVID-19.

Should you have any further inquiries concerning your request, please
reply to this email leaving the subject line unchanged.

Yours sincerely
Manchester City Council

Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to our privacy
notice at [1]www.manchester.gov.uk/privacy for further information.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.manchester.gov.uk/privacy

foi@manchester.gov.uk, Manchester City Council

Date: 26/10/2020

 

Dear Steve Goodrich

 

Re: Request for Information – Meetings and emails between Abu Dhabi United
Group and MCC [01/01/2013 - 01/04/2013] – Reference Number: FOI/3073

 

Thank you for your request for information, which was received by
Manchester City Council on 29/09/2020 and has been considered under the
provisions of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (“the EIR”).

 

The detail of your request is provided below:

 

1) Emails to/from professional representatives of “Abu Dhabi United Group”
and “Loom Holdings” (including CC'ed in correspondence) in the period
between 01/01/2013 – 01/04/2013 in email accounts belonging to any of the
following persons:

- the former Council Chief Executive Howard Bernstein,
- the current Council Chief Executive Richard Leese.

Where an email has been identified please disclose the full thread for
context. Please search draft and deleted email folders.

2) Please also provide a copy of the report which sets out the financial
arrangements between Manchester City Council and “Abu Dhabi United Group”
for the “Manchester Life” joint venture.

 

 

 

The detail of the Council’s response is provided below:

 

Your request has been considered under the EIR because information
concerning the Manchester Life development would be classed as
environmental information given that it relates to development of land for
housing, which would clearly affect the environment.

 

Whilst the EIR do provide access to environmental information, there are
exceptions which allow a public authority such as the Council to withhold
information in certain circumstances. All exceptions under the EIR are
subject to the public interest test, and the Council must apply a
presumption in favour of disclosure when considering that test.

 

The Council holds no minutes of meetings other than those which may be
contained within emails.

 

 

With regard to your request, I can confirm that searches have been
undertaken which have located information falling within the scope of your
request. Having considered the information, I have determined however that
the information that falls within the scope of your request should be
withheld because your request is considered to be manifestly unreasonable.

 

A search has been undertaken for Sir Richard Leese and Howard Bernstein
which has located over 800 emails. Those emails have been retrieved using
key words from your request as search terms, namely:

 

“Abu Dhabi United Group” or “Loom Holdings”

 

All of those emails were sent to or from Sir Richard Leese (who is the
Leader of the Council (not it’s Chief Executive) or Howard Bernstein over
the period specified in your request.

 

In respect of these emails, it is considered likely that many of them
would be subject to many of the additional exceptions detailed towards the
end of this letter. However, the Council does not intend to review each
and every email because it considers that this would be manifestly
unreasonable.

 

The EIR provide an exception for manifestly unreasonable requests. The
exception at Regulation 12(4)(b) states as follows:

 

“...a public authority may refuse to disclose information to the extent
that –

(b) the request for information is manifestly unreasonable”

 

The exception is intended to protect public authorities, such as the
Council, from exposure to a disproportionate burden or an unjustified
level of distress, disruption or irritation, in handling a request. The
Information Commissioner’s (IC) guidance to this exception confirms that
it can be used where the cost of compliance with the request is too great.
In respect of over 800 emails it is the disproportionate burden that would
be required to answer the request which the Council considers makes it
manifestly unreasonable.

 

In order to respond to the request for these emails, an individual officer
would have to read each email to determine whether it did fall within the
scope of the request, and would then need to consider whether the content
of the email was subject to an exception or whether it could be disclosed.
Some of the emails are likely to be very brief, others will be much more
detailed. Using an estimated average time of two minutes per email (which
is likely to be a low estimate) would mean that it would take one officer
over 26 hours to read the emails which equates to over three days of work.
I therefore consider that on cost grounds, the manifestly unreasonable
exception is engaged. Accordingly, I have gone on to consider the public
interest test and have reached the view that when aggregating all of the
public interest factors, the public interest favours withholding the
requested information.

 

Public interest factors in favour of disclosure

 

* The general public interest in transparency
* Public interest in understanding issues affecting the local community
including the development of land

 

Public interest factors in favour of maintaining the exception

 

* Public interest in using public resources efficiently especially in
the context of reduced budgets
* Disproportionate burden on the authority especially bearing in mind
that it is likely much of the information would be subject to other
exceptions under the EIR
* Public interest in not distracting officers from dealing with their
core job responsibilities and diverting attention away from service
delivery

 

In addition, I consider that even if the IC were to conclude that your
request is not manifestly unreasonable, the following exemptions are in
any event likely to apply to much, if not all, the information that you
have requested:

 

* Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) - Regulation 12(5)(b)
* Confidentiality of commercial information - Regulation 12(5)(e)
* Internal communications - Regulation 12(4)(e)
* Interests of third parties providing information - Regulation 12(5)(f)
* Personal information - Regulation 12(3)

 

Although, when applying the manifestly unreasonable exception the Council
is entitled to refuse the entirety of your request, to be of assistance I
provide a link to public part of the report referred to in part 2 of your
request:

 

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/download/me...

 

 

 

Re-use of information

 

Information about the re-use of council information is available
at [1]https://secure.manchester.gov.uk/info/10...
If you wish to re-use this information, please follow the application
process described.  Your request will be considered in accordance with the
Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015.

 

Please note if you are not satisfied with this response you may ask for an
internal review. If you have received this response by email the best way
to submit a request for internal review is to respond directly to the
email, leaving the email's subject line unchanged. Alternatively, you can
contact the Council's Information Compliance Team
at [2][email address] or Democratic Services Legal Team, PO Box 532,
Town Hall, Manchester, M60 2LA. A copy of the Council’s information rights
complaints procedure can be downloaded
from: [3]http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/d....
If you do not have internet access and require a paper copy, please let me
know. 

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review process,
you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Fax: 01625 524510

[4]www.ico.org.uk

 

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications. If you have received this response by email, please leave
the email's subject line unchanged when responding to it. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Democratic Services

PO Box 532

Town Hall

Manchester

M60 2LA

References

Visible links
1. https://secure.manchester.gov.uk/info/10...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/d...
4. http://www.ico.org.uk/