1,3,5, 13,15,17 Comely Bank Place - Overcharging - Wrongful Stat Notices

The request was partially successful.

Bruce Thompson

Dear City of Edinburgh Council,

1,3,5, 13,15,17 Comely Bank Place - Overcharging - Wrongful Emergency Stat Notices

Edinburgh Council has now admitted that Emergency Statutory Notices were wrongly served and that they will not recover the costs against these invalid notices. My Neighbours on either side of my property do not seem to be aware of this, and in some cases I believe that large amounts of money have been retained on sales of properties to pay these invalid notices. This is a wrongful situation and I am concerned as to whether the Council has written to the poor people in the above properties to admit that the notices were wrongly served and to assure them and their solicitors, that the retentions can now be released and that people do not have to worry themselves into an early grave. In view of public concern, I request the following:

1. Please confirm whether you have informed the owners of all of the above properties that the Emergency notices issued were wrongly issued and that no moneys will be recovered against them.

2. I would very much appreciate it if you could provide me with a copy of the letters you sent to the owners of the above properties to inform them that the notices issued were wrongly served and that you will not be pursuing them for the invalid work, and that the Emergency Stat Notices have been lifted. I am quite happy for the normal redactions of personnel names and details to be applied.

Yours faithfully,

Bruce Thompson

Freedom of Information, City of Edinburgh Council

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City of Edinburgh Council

Mr Bruce Thompson

Date: 11/05/2015

Our ref: 7535

Dear Mr Thompson

Acknowledgement of Request

Subject: Statutory notice - Comely Bank Place

Thank you for your request for information of 09/05/2015 which was received on 11/05/2015. In your request you asked for the following;

"1. Please confirm whether you have informed the owners of all of the above properties that the Emergency notices issued were wrongly issued and that no moneys will be recovered against them. 2. I would very much appreciate it if you could provide me with a copy of the letters you sent to the owners of the above properties to inform them that the notices issued were wrongly served and that you will not be pursuing them for the invalid work, and that the Emergency Stat Notices have been lifted. I am quite happy for the normal redactions of personnel names and details to be applied."

I can confirm that your request will be processed under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, Environmental Information Regulations (Scotland) 2004, or the INSPIRE (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

You will receive the information requested within 20 working days unless the Council does not hold the information, or there is a reason for it to be withheld. We will write to you in any event.

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

If you have any requirements regarding the format any information should be supplied in, e.g. the language to be used, audio, large print and so on, then please let me know.

If you have any queries or concerns, do not hesitate to get in touch. Please quote the reference number above in any future communications.

To promote transparency and accountability, please note it is the Council’s policy to publish all request details and responses made under the freedom of information legislation. This information will be made available through the Council’s website and will not include your personal details. The disclosure log is available at the following link: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/homepage/175....

Further information about your rights and accessing information is available on our website at: www.edinburgh.gov.uk

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Unit
Level 2:1, Waverley Court, Edinburgh EH8 8BG Tel 0131 200 2340
[Edinburgh City Council request email] www.edinburgh.gov.uk

Information Compliance 2, City of Edinburgh Council

2 Attachments

Mr Bruce Thompson

 

[FOI #267365 email]

 

Our ref: 7535

 

Dear Mr Thompson

 

Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 - Release of
Information

 

Subject: Statutory notice - Comely Bank Place

 

Thank you for your request for information of 11/05/2015 where you asked
the following in regard to 1,3,5, 13,15,17 Comely Bank Place -
Overcharging - Wrongful Emergency Stat Notices. Your request has been
processed and considered under the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 (EIRs).

 

1. Please confirm whether you have informed the owners of all of the above
properties that the Emergency notices issued were wrongly issued and that
no moneys will be recovered against them.

 

2. I would very much appreciate it if you could provide me with a copy of
the letters you sent to the owners of the above properties to inform them
that the notices issued were wrongly served and that you will not be
pursuing them for the invalid work, and that the Emergency Stat Notices
have been lifted. I am quite happy for the normal redactions of personnel
names and details to be applied.

 

All owners have been advised that Deloitte have carried out a review of
this project. I have attached a copy of the covering letter which was sent
to the owners.

 

Please note that the Council is applying the exception in regulation 11(2)
of the EIRs to certain information which has been redacted from what is
being disclosed to you.  Regulation 11(2) of the EIRs exempts the
disclosure of personal data of people other than yourself.   ‘Personal
data’ means data which relate to a living individual who can be identified
from that data. We consider that the release of this information, in
response to your request, would breach the first data protection
principle, that of fair processing, as it would not be fair, or expected,
for the personal data of these individuals to be released into the public
domain.

 

This constitutes a formal refusal notice under regulation 10(3) of the
EIRS concerning any personal information which we have not disclosed.

 

To promote transparency and accountability, please note it is the
Council’s policy to publish all request details and responses made under
the freedom of information legislation. This information will be made
available through the Council’s website and will not include your personal
details. The disclosure log is available at the following link:
[1]http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/homepage/175....

 

Your right to seek a review

 

If you are unhappy with the way we have dealt with your request, you can
ask us to review our actions and decisions by writing to the:

 

Head of Legal Risk and Compliance,

The City of Edinburgh Council,

Waverley Court Business Centre 2:1,

4, East Market Street,

Edinburgh,

EH8 8BG or,

Email legal.[Edinburgh City Council request email]

 

Please note that your request must be in a recordable format (email,
letter, audio tape etc.), and that you have 40 working days upon receipt
of this letter to ask for a review. You will receive a full response to
your review request within 20 working days of its receipt. Please remember
to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the review, you can ask the
Scottish Information Commissioner to review our decision. You must submit
your complaint to the Commissioner within 6 months of receiving our review
response. The Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

Telephone: 01334 464610

Fax: 01334 464611

Website www.itspublicknowledge.info

Email: [email address]

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Sue Brown

Information Compliance Officer

 

 

 

 

Information Governance Unit

Level 2:1, Waverley Court, Edinburgh EH8 8BG Tel 0131 200 2340

[Edinburgh City Council request email] www.edinburgh.gov.uk

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/homepage/175...
2. https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/
3. https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/

Dear City of Edinburgh Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of City of Edinburgh Council's handling of my FOI request '1,3,5, 13,15,17 Comely Bank Place - Overcharging - Wrongful Stat Notices'.

The reply that I have been given relates to properties 7 to 1, and does not cover the specific properties that I listed above. These are the people (my neighbours) who should have been told that the emergency notices are not valid and that they have been lifted on their properties. I believe the council is being obstructive and deliberately obtuse, please read my request again and try to provide the information requested, this will save time and taxpayers money. The original request is below, please review and provide the information, or I will ask the information Commissioner to investigate.

1,3,5, 13,15,17 Comely Bank Place - Overcharging - Wrongful Stat Notices

Edinburgh Council has now admitted that EMERGENCY Statutory Notices
were wrongly served and that they will not recover the costs
against these invalid notices. My Neighbours on either side of my
property do not seem to be aware of this, and in some cases I
believe that large amounts of money have been retained on sales of
properties to pay these invalid notices. This is a wrongful
situation and I am concerned as to whether the Council has written
to the poor people in the above properties to admit that the
notices were wrongly served and to assure them and their
solicitors, that the retentions can now be released and that people
do not have to worry themselves into an early grave. In view of
public concern, I request the following:

1. Please confirm whether you have informed the owners of all of
the above properties that the Emergency notices issued were wrongly
issued and that no moneys will be recovered against them.

2. I would very much appreciate it if you could provide me with a
copy of the letters you sent to the owners of the above properties
to inform them that the notices issued were wrongly served and that
you will not be pursuing them for the invalid work, and that the
Emergency Stat Notices have been lifted. I am quite happy for the
normal redactions of personnel names and details to be applied.

Yours faithfully,

Bruce Thompson

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/1...

Yours faithfully,

Bruce Thompson

Freedom of Information, City of Edinburgh Council

Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will get
back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,
 
Customer Services.
 
This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.

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City of Edinburgh Council

Dear Mr Thompson

Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 - Request for Review

Subject: 7535

Thank you for your correspondence of 10 June 2015 received by us on 11 June 2015 asking that the Council reviews its handling of your request for information dated 9 May 2015. In your request for review you expressed dissatisfaction that the Council's response did not cover all of the properties within the scope of your request.

I can confirm that the Council will deal with your review promptly under the provisions of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. You will receive a full response no later than 20 working days upon receipt of your request. This means that we will respond by 9 July 2015.

In the meantime, if you have any further queries, please get in touch quoting the reference number given above.

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Unit
Level 2:1, Waverley Court, Edinburgh EH8 8BG Tel 0131 200 2340
[Edinburgh City Council request email] www.edinburgh.gov.uk

Legal FOI, City of Edinburgh Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Thompson,

 

Please find attached the response to your request for review which has
been dealt with under the terms of the Environmental Information
(Scotland) Regulations 2004.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Chris Peggie

Review Officer

 

 

Chris Peggie| Governance Service | Legal, Risk and Compliance Division |
Directorate of Corporate Governance | The City of Edinburgh Council
| Waverley Court Business Centre 2:1, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8
8BG | phone: 0131 529 4494| fax: 0131 529 3603

 

This advice is strictly privileged and confidential and is intended for
use by the recipient only.

 

 

[1]Consulting Edinburgh footer.jpg

[2]Have your say on the issues that matter to you

 

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/
2. https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/