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Owners of Empty Property

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Property Developer

Dear Sir or Madam,

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

(a) addresses of all “long term empty” Commercial and Public Sector properties that are within the borough of Westminster; and

(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in (a)

In regards to any possible objection under section 31(1)a of the Freedom of Information Act and the subsequent public interest test the following judgement from the Information Tribunal must be taken note of.

i)With regard to identifying empty properties, it could be considered to be in the public interest to disclose such information in order to assist, for example, in encouraging the use of empty properties. The Information Tribunal
considered this in 2007 and paragraph 86 of their decision states:

".....Our conclusion on the public interest test is that, insofar as the properties are owned by individuals, the public interest in maintaining the exemption does outweigh the public interest in disclosure. The impact of crime on individuals as an inherent part of the public interest in this circumstance is a significant factor and leads to the exemption outweighing the public interest in disclosure in our view. However, for those properties that are owned by those other than individuals, including public authorities, our conclusion is that it [the security considerations, ie the section 31 law enforcement exemption] does not, and the public interest is in favour of disclosure. This is because the impact of crime on an individual is not present and this inherent aspect of the public interest in preventing crime is therefore absent and changes the analysis of the balance."

(Tribunal Ref: EA/2006/0060&0066. Decision promulgated 10^th May 2007)

London councils (E.g. City of London 2009, Hackney 2010 and Westminster 2010) have previously agreed to supply this information.

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Hudson

Westminster City Council

Confirmation of Freedom Of Information Request

Thank you for your request for information.

Your request details have now been recorded and will be passed on to the
appropriate Divisional Records Officer for action.

This Freedom Of Information Request was based on the following
information:

Name: Daniel Hudson
Address: See email address
Email: [FOI #168484 email]
Telephone:
Request Details: Dear Sir or Madam,

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

(a) addresses of all "long term empty" Commercial and Public Sector
properties that are within the borough of Westminster; and

(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in (a)

In regards to any possible objection under section 31(1)a of the Freedom
of Information Act and the subsequent public interest test the following
judgement from the Information Tribunal must be taken note of.

i)With regard to identifying empty properties, it could be considered to
be in the public interest to disclose such information in order to assist,
for example, in encouraging the use of empty properties. The Information
Tribunal considered this in 2007 and paragraph 86 of their decision
states:

".....Our conclusion on the public interest test is that, insofar as the
properties are owned by individuals, the public interest in maintaining
the exemption does outweigh the public interest in disclosure. The impact
of crime on individuals as an inherent part of the public interest in this
circumstance is a significant factor and leads to the exemption
outweighing the public interest in disclosure in our view. However, for
those properties that are owned by those other than individuals, including
public authorities, our conclusion is that it [the security
considerations, ie the section 31 law enforcement exemption] does not, and
the public interest is in favour of disclosure. This is because the impact
of crime on an individual is not present and this inherent aspect of the
public interest in preventing crime is therefore absent and changes the
analysis of the balance."

(Tribunal Ref: EA/2006/0060&0066. Decision promulgated 10^th May 2007)

FOI Reference Number: 11068
Target Completion Date: 08/08/2013

Please do not reply to this email.
This is an automatic response to your request, and replies to this message
will not be actioned.

If you need to contact Westminster City Council regarding your request,
please contact:

mailto:[Westminster City Council request email]
Tel:020 7641 3921

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FOI, Westminster City Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Hudson,

 

Thank you for your recent request submitted to the council under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Please find the council’s response attached.

 

Should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us
care of the details below.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Knowledge & Information Management Team

 

Westminster City Hall

10th Floor East

64 Victoria Street

London

SW1E 6QP

T: 0207 641 3921

F: 0207 641 2872

E: [email address]

 

 

 

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We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Property Developer please sign in and let everyone know.