Provision for Severe Weather Conditions

The request was partially successful.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

Could you please forward me:

(1) Plan for gritting and clearing Highways and footpaths in the Borough following periods of heavy snowfall. These would be the reference for managers to schedule gritters, and include a list of priority roads and justification for ignoring other routes.

(2) Reports into Winter 2009-10 either discussed at Corporate Management Team or Leaders Advisory Board

(3) All Emails between the between the Chief Executive and/or the Head of Communcations, and/or the Director/ Service Head of Highways and/or the Leader of the Council from Monday 30 November 2010 to Friday 3 December 2010

Yours faithfully,
Thomas Richards

Hewson, Emma, Croydon Borough Council

Dear Mr Richards

Thank you for your email dated 3^rd December 2010 in which you have
requested information regarding the Council's provision for severe weather
conditions.

We are considering your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, and hope to respond within the statutory 20 working
days.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, either
myself or a colleague will let you know the likely charges before
proceeding.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely

Emma Hewson

Trainee Solicitor

Democratic & Legal Services Division

Chief Executive's Office

London Borough of Croydon

Tel: 0208 726 6000 Ext. 62055

Faxintaion: 0208 633 9571

Fax: 0208 760 5679

DX 136017 Croydon 17

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Dear Hewson, Emma,

Can I remind you that my FOI request is due. It appears that the WhatDoTheyKnow application has not factored in the public holidays, however I would still expect a reply by Friday 7th January to compensate for the three days off. The Information Commissioner would not make allowances for the days between 29-31st December when your offices may have been closed.

I look forward to your reply. Failure to provide a response will, of course, result in a complaint to the ICO. As you are a Council on 'special measures' as far as Freedom of Information is concerned, I'm sure you would wish to avoid this.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Richards

Passman, Howard, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr. Richards,

I am writing to advise you that the time limit for responding to your
request for information dated 3 December 2010, in which you requested
information regarding Council's provision for severe weather conditions
needs to be extended.

It is occasionally necessary to extend the 20 working day time limit for
issuing a response. In the case of your request, I must extend the time
limit by a further 5 days because I have been informed that some of the
information requested must be considered against exemptions within the
Freedom of Information Act to which the public interest test applies.

This extra time is needed in order to make a determination as to the
public interest, and whether or not to release the requested information.

I hope to let you have a response no later that Tuesday 11 January 2011.
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this delay may cause
you.

Yours sincerely

Howard Passman

Information Management Manager

Democratic & Legal Services Division

Southside, 5th Floor Taberner House

Park Lane, Croydon CR9 3JS

020 8726 6000 ext. 62318

www.croydon.gov.uk

www.croydononline.org

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Dear Passman, Howard,

In order for this request to be valid, please specify which qualified exemptions you are considering.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Richards.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Provision for Severe Weather Conditions'.

I have not received a response to my request within the statutory time frame, and the request to delay to further consider the public interest test was erroneous as it did not specify the exemptions being examined.

I am amazed that, given the authority is on the watchlist of the Information Commissioner, that it continues to hold residents in contempt. It's also perfectly clear that the FOI operation at Croydon Council is a complete shambles - requests missed, exemptions being botched, no attempt to proactively publish information etc...

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

Yours faithfully,

Thomas Richards

Dear Passman, Howard,

Are you actually going to acknowledge my request for an internal review?

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Richards

Michael Douglas left an annotation ()

What on earth is this council playing at?

On 5-1-11 they say they need a further 5 days to consider the matter, and say they will respond by 11-1-11.

They fail to do this, and say nothing after a further 2 weeks.

They also fail to acknowledge the Internal Review request.

It is surely time to make a complaint to the ICO.

http://www.ico.gov.uk

http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

It should be noted that Croydon Council is already under special investigation due to its past failures to respond as required by law.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/prom...

View the list of monitored authorities

Derby, James, Croydon Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Richards

Thank you for your email dated 3^rd December 2010 in which you have
requested amongst other things information regarding the Council's
provision for severe weather conditions. We have considered your request
under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and apologise for
the delay in replying. Our response is set out to your questions.

1. Plan for gritting and clearing Highways and footpaths in the Borough
following periods of heavy snowfall. These would be the reference for
managers to schedule gritter's, and include a list of priority roads and
justification for ignoring other routes.

The council has a winter service plan which is reviewed each year
(attached). In addition we have attached a copy of the secondary treatment
routes and the link below takes you to the councils website which has our
primary routes
[1]http://www.croydon.gov.uk/transportandst....

2. Reports into Winter 2009-10 either discussed at Corporate Management
Team or Leaders Advisory Board

We have conducted a search into our records and confirm the Council holds
the information you have requested; however, we are unable to provide the
information to you as it falls under the exemption provided in Section 36
of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). This exemption has been
considered relevant by the Council's Secretary and Solicitor and
Monitoring Officer, a qualified person.

Section 36 (1b) and 2 (b ii ) of the FOIA provides that information which
is held by a public authority is exempt from disclosure if in the
reasonable opinion of a qualified person disclosure would or would be
likely to inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of
deliberations.

Section 36 (2) (b) (ii) allow for the exemption of information if its
disclosure would, or would be likely to inhibit the ability of public
authority staff and others, when deliberating or providing advice. The
exemption allows for information to be withheld if its disclosure would
inhibit the imparting or commissioning of advice or the offering or
requesting of opinions or considerations, subject to the public interest
test.

Documents relating to the winter reports were discussed by officers at the
Council's Corporate Management Team meetings. The officers considered
various options available to the Council and had free and frank exchange
of views expressing themselves openly, honestly and completely in order to
arrive at a reasonable decision.

These deliberations include the evaluation of competing arguments and
considerations that may have an influence on the Council's course of
action regarding the effect of snow during the winter seasons. The
discussions revealed the `thinking process' or reflection of the officers
that has gone into the decision.

If the reports and other information expressed by the said officers are
disclosed to you, it will likely prejudice the free and frank exchange of
views or during subsequent deliberations they are engaged in and it may
restrain, decrease or suppress the freedom with which opinions or options
are expressed.

In arriving at this decision, I have considered the public interest test
and I am of the view that the public interest test is in favour of
maintaining the exemption not to disclose the information. I believe that
based on the specific circumstances of the case and the content of the
information requested in relation to those circumstances there is a high
risk of disclosure inhibiting frankness and candour in debate and decision
making, especially within the Council Management Team and this will be
detrimental to the work of the Council and to democracy. We are therefore
unable disclose this information.

All Emails between the between the Chief Executive and/or the Head of
Communications, and/or the Director/ Service Head of Highways and/or the
Leader of the Council from Monday 30 November 2010 to Friday 3 December
2010

Please see answer 2 above.

If you are dissatisfied with the way the department has handled your
request under the Freedom of Information Act you may ask for an internal
review. Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within
40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Council. You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint and
either:

o e-mailing us at [Croydon Borough Council request email]
o faxing us on 0208 760 5679
o writing to FOI Complaints, London Borough of Croydon, Democratic and
Legal Services, Croydon, CR9 3JS

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

o Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

James Derby

Corporate Solicitor

Legal & Democratic Services

London Borough of Croydon

Taberner House

Park Lane

CR9 3JS

Tel: 020 8760 5768 Ext. 61359

Fax: 020 8760 5679

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