Roads compensation 1990-2015 inclusive

The request was partially successful.

Dear Northumberland County Council,

Please kindly provide us with details of compensation payments for damage caused
due to poor condition of roads (potholes, etc) by year from 1990 to 2015 inclusive.

1. Total claims for compensation your council received for year.
2. Total claims your council paid out compensation for year.
3. Highest single amount paid out in compensation for year.
4. Lowest single amount paid out in compensation for year.
5. Average amount paid out in compensation for year.
6. Total compensation paid out for year.

For helpful reference we provide equivalent data supplied by other councils:

Westminster City Council
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Barnet Borough Council
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Hart

Northumberland County Council

1 Attachment

Our Ref: 4239  

Dear Enquirer,

INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your request for information which will be dealt with under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.

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

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

Kind regards

Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF

Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [Northumberland County Council request email]
Web: http://www.northumberland.gov.uk

Northumberland County Council

1 Attachment

Our Ref: 4239   

Dear Enquirer,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST 

I refer to your Freedom of Information request in relation to details of
compensation payments for damage caused due to poor road conditions
(potholes etc.) by year from 1990 to 2015 inclusive. 

Right of Access 

Section 1(1) of the Act provides any person making a request for
information to a public authority is entitled. 

(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds
information of the description specified in the request (which Section
1(6) of the Act designates as the "duty to confirm or deny"), and 

(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him. 

The right is to obtain access to the information itself and not to the
document or record which contains it. 

The Act creates a general right of access to information held by public
authorities subject to various exemptions. 

Please see the table below for data from 2009 to 2015.

Year Total Total Highest Lowest Average Total
claims claims single single single Compensation
received paid claim claim claim Paid
2009 203 61 £87,772.00 £25.00 £2,387.76 £173,103.34
2010 723 157 £107,980.81 £15.00 £2,601.93 £408,503.14
2011 365 131 £55,766.86 £28.95 £3,172.27 £415,567.37
2012 342 131 £121,456.09 £24.00 £2,643.17 £346,255.18
2013 677 386 £98,388.00 £24.00 £1,345.66 £519,423.91
2014 318 190 £44,139.50 £12.80 £1,309.27 £248,762.19
2015 264 101 £6,267.00 £26.00 £594.17 £60,011.37

 

 

Duty to confirm or deny 

The public interest test requires Northumberland County Council to confirm
that we hold certain information prior to Northumberland County Council
becoming a Unitary Authority on 1^st April 2009. 

However, the time and cost involved in extracting the requested
information would exceed our statutory obligation to comply with the
request; e.g. 2.5 days and/or £450. It would take approximately three days
to get this information together because there are seven different
databases from previous local councils to check, extract relevant data and
collate the information. 

Exemptions 

The Freedom of Information Act sets out various exemptions to the right of
access. 

In the present case the County Council takes the view that the information
relating to your request is exempt under the following provisions. 

• Section 12(1) Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate
limit 

Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request
for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with
the request would exceed the appropriate limit. 

(2) Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its
obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the
estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the
appropriate limit. 

(3) In subsections (1) and (2) "the appropriate limit" means such amount
as may be prescribed, and different amounts may be prescribed in relation
to different cases. 

(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide that, in such
circumstances as may be prescribed, where two or more requests for
information are made to a public authority- 

(a) by one person, or 

(b) by different persons who appear to the public authority to be acting
in concert or in pursuance of a campaign, 

the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to
be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them. 

(5) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for the
purposes of this section as to the costs to be estimated and as to the
manner in which they are to be estimated. 

Notice of Refusal 

Please treat this letter as a Notice of Refusal as regards the information
covered by the Section 12(1) Exemption. 

Advice and Assistance 

The County Council recognises its statutory duty to provide advice and
assistance under Section 16 of the Act. Subject to the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act, the Council is seeking to be transparent and
open in its response. 

Complaints 

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request an internal review by writing within 2 months
from the date of this response to the Information Governance Office: 

Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
NE61 2EF 

Email: [Northumberland County Council request email] 

Information Commissioner 

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have a
right by Section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner
for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act at: 

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

Tel: 01625 545 745 / Fax: 01625 524 510
Email: [email address

There is no charge for making an appeal. 

Yours sincerely 

FOI Coordinator - 
Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF

Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [Northumberland County Council request email] 
Web: http://www.northumberland.gov.uk 

Dear Northumberland County Council,

Thanks very much for this information.

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Hart