Proposed Development of Retirement Housing Scheme in Rawtenstall

Lancashire County Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Lancashire County Council,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the
information to which I am entitled under the freedom of information act. In order to assist you with this request, I am outlining my query as specifically as possible. If however this request is too wide or too unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand that under the act, you are required to advise and assist requesters.

In regards to the proposed Retirement Housing Scheme on land
adjacent to Cherry Tree Lane and Cherry Tree Crescent in Rossendale I would be grateful if you could provide the following information:-

1. Details of any meetings taken place within Lancashire Council including dates, minutes and attendees including agreed actions and outcomes

2. Details of any meetings taken place with external stakeholders (Calico, Rossendale County Council, East Lancashire Commissioning Group, PRP Architects, Faithful and Gould, Department of Health / Homes and Communities, Ring Stone Maintenance) including dates, minutes and attendees including agreed actions and outcomes

3.Copies of all correspondence be it email, telephone messages, letters, faxes that has taken place internally within Lancashire County Council in regards to said development.

4.Copies of all correspondence be it email, telephone messages, letters, faxes that has taken place with external stakeholders (Calico, Rossendale County Council, East Lancashire Commissioning Group, PRP Architects, Faithful and Gould, Department of Health / Homes and Communities, Ring Stone Maintenance) in regards to said development.

5. Confirmation of any local or statutory requirement in regards to the size of such scheme, including number of residents having to be housed, staff employed and services offered

I understand that under the act, I should be entitled to a response within 20 working days. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

if there are specific areas of the request that may hold up the other information then I am happy to receive the information in a staggered fashion.

Yours faithfully,

Matthew Thompson

Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Mr Thompson,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email in which you request the
disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act.

The deadline date for issuing you with a full response is 13 June. We will
endeavour to provide a response well in advance of this date, however,
should we envisage any delays, or require more details from you, we will
contact you immediately.

If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact
us, quoting ref. 819.553

Yours sincerely,

Mr K Chippindale

On behalf of the ATI Team

Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council

T: 01772 531116

[1]www.lancashire.gov.uk

 

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Dear Freedom of Information,

Please can I request an internal review for my previous request.

I am requesting the review on the following basis:-

- The recommended delivery date was 13th June
- I have contacted the access team and there is no indication of when the information will be received
- The information delay appears to be being held up by one individual.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

matthew

Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Mr Thompson,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email in which you request an
Internal Review.

We will endeavour to provide as soon as possible, however, should we
envisage any delays, or require more details from you, we will contact you
immediately.

If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact
us, quoting your internal review ref 820.28

Yours sincerely,

Mr K Chippindale

On behalf of the ATI Team

Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council

T: 01772 531116

[1]www.lancashire.gov.uk

 

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Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Thompson

 

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

 

We refer to your request for information, and request for an Internal
Review under the provisions of the above Act.

 

Please accept our apologies for the time it has taken to respond to your
request, however, we are now in a position to provide you with a response.

 

Please see the attachments to this email which details some of the
information you have requested.

 

Please note, Section 1(1) of the Act provides that a public authority has
a duty to state in writing whether it holds information of the description
specified in a request; and in accordance with our obligations I am able
to confirm that Lancashire County Council does hold the information you
have asked for in respect of the details of meetings, including agreed
actions and outcomes taken place with external stakeholders, namely
Calico.

 

However, Section 43(2) of the Act permits information to be withheld,
subject to the application of a public interest test, where disclosure
would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any
business or organisation.

 

I have now had the opportunity to consider the exemption under Section 43
as it applies to the information you have requested; and in particular
whether the public interest lies in favour of maintaining the exemption or
in disclosing this information to you.

 

It is clear that the exemption is engaged in relation to the information
contained in correspondence to and from Lancashire County Council and
Calico. Any disclosure of the information would be viewed unfavourably by
Calico due to the potential adverse effect on their business relationship
with the County Council, on the grounds that rivals may try to undercut
the current providers thereby prejudicing their interests, and by
prejudicing our ability to obtain best value in future.

 

In considering the public interest test, I acknowledge that, as a general
principle, there is a public interest in public authorities being as open
and transparent as possible. Disclosure would improve the accountability
and transparency of the Authority by showing how it has used public funds
and obtained value for money. However, there is also a considerable
public interest in safeguarding the business relationship between
organisations and the County Council, and safeguarding the ability of the
County Council to secure business custom. In light of this, I have
concluded that in all the circumstances of this case, the public interest
in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the
exemption, and therefore this aspect of your request is refused.

 

We have been advised however, that Calico may choose to disclose some
information to you should you wish to contact them direct. Their details
are provided below:

 

Sarah Hanson/Ed Barber
Calico
Centenary Court
Croft Street
Burnley
Lancashire

BB11 2ED

 

I trust the above is useful.

 

Again, please accept our sincere apologies for the time it has taken to
deal with your enquiry. We have been advised by the Adult, Community
Services and Public Health Directorate, who provided the information, that
they are urgently reviewing their process and procedures for dealing with
Freedom of Information requests.

As part of this review they will be formalising their approach to FOIs and
within this will be detailing the responsibility of officers overseeing
the process to:

·         ensure it is allocated to the correct person or people, who are
able to provide the information if it is available or state definitively
if it is not.

·         chase the progress of the request regularly and

·         escalate it to a more senior manager if necessary.

Once the new procedures are written and formally agreed we will be
ensuring these are communicated to those people who are asked to respond
to the request so that they understand their legal responsibilities and
the possible consequences of their failure to act in a timely manner.

We hope this will address your concerns about their system which we
acknowledge has not, in this instance performed to a satisfactory
standard.

Their formalised system should prevent this situation from arising again
in the future.

As we have failed to supply you with a response within the statutory 20
working days, you have the right to refer the matter to the Information
Commissioner, whose contact details are as follows:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire,

SK9 5AF.

 

Telephone:        0303 123 1113

Website:           [1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/

 

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council

3^rd Floor Winckley House

County Hall

Preston

PR1 3LT

 

Tel:      (01772)  531116

Email: [2][Lancashire County Council request email]

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Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Mr Thompson,

 

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

 

Please can you confirm that you received our response with an attachment
containing the details you requested. The amount of data sent was quite
large so I am just double checking that you received this and it did not
get trapped in our Firewall?

 

The email was sent at 15:14pm yesterday. (02.07.13)

 

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council

3^rd Floor Winckley House

County Hall

Preston

PR1 3LT

 

Tel:      (01772)  531116

Email: [1][Lancashire County Council request email]

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Dear Freedom of Information,

Document received yesterday.

Thanks

Matthew

Dear Freedom of Information,

thanks for the previous informatiob. iwas hoping to gain a full picture whether my previous request could be extended to cover the period from may to july.

i believe it is helpful fo understand the full reason for the request and that would be to gainafull picture. i anticipate no further requests after this date.

it would cover emails and meetings internally and externally.

Yours sincerely,

matthew

Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Mr Thompson,

 

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

 

Further to your request for information made under the provisions of the
above Act, we are now in a position to provide you with a response.

 

Follow-up Request:

 

Thanks for the previous information. I was hoping to gain a full picture
whether my previous request could be extended to cover the period from May
to July. I believe it is helpful to understand the full reason for the
request and that would be to gain a full picture. I anticipate no further
requests after this date. It would cover emails and meetings internally
and externally.

 

We can confirm that there have been no further meetings, emails or other
documents relating to the original request for information about a
proposed retirement housing development on land adjacent to Cherry Tree
Lane in Rossendale, since the ones we sent through to you on 02 July 2013.

 

We trust the above is useful.

 

Your request will now be closed as of this date.

 

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council

3^rd Floor Winckley House

County Hall

Preston

PR1 3LT

 

Tel:      (01772)  531116

Email: [1][Lancashire County Council request email]

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