54 Arkwright Road - Building Regs Final Certificate (8 Sept 2021)
Dear Croydon Borough Council
According to the Council's website, the Application Completion Date for works under Initial Notice 18/02197/IN at the above address was 8 September 2021.
++++ Please provide a copy of the Final Certificate from the Approved Inspector, BBS Building Control (now Stroma Building Control).
Please note, this information CANNOT be obtained using the Council's search facility and therefore Regulation 6(1)(b) does NOT apply.
By Regulation 12(2), the authority must apply a presumption in favour of disclosure, in both engaging exceptions and carrying out the public interest test.
I understand that the Council has recently refused to supply a copy of the final certificate on another flatted-development nearby, claiming that the provision of final certificates related to flats other than the requester's would represent the provision to them of "... someone else’s information and therefore a breach in respect to data protection ...". I believe that to be incorrect.
I have seen a copy of the final certificate(s) sent to that requester (privately) and can see no information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, apart from the name and signature of the surveyor who signed the Certificate on behalf of Stroma Building Control Ltd.
Additionally, copies of a number of (Partial) Final Certificates have previously been provided to me without redaction. (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...)
The requested information should therefore be provided, redacted ONLY as required by legislation.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Whiteside
Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA
Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
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DEAR Stephen Whiteside
Freedom of information request - FOI/8326
Subject: FOI - building control
Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.
If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why, and details of how you
may appeal.
Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully.
Kind Regard
Information Management Team
Croydon Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
7th Floor, Zone B
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
Dear Croydon Borough Council,
Your Ref: FOI/8326
By law, the authority should normally have responded promptly and by 20 October 2023 at the latest.
Please provide all the information requested, without further undue delay.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Whiteside
Dear Croydon Borough Council,
Your Ref: FOI/8326
Another week goes by and still no response. If I don't receive that response by 1 November 2023, I will complain to the Information Commissioner about these unlawful delays.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Whiteside
Dear Croydon Borough Council,
I have now complained to the Information Commissioner.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Whiteside
Dear Mr Whiteside,
Please accept our Sincere apology with the time it has taken for us to reply and disclose a response. I can confirm your request is still with the service and we have not yet received the information you have requested for us to disclose.
Your FOI request has been chased and acknowledged as overdue, please ensure we will escalate further and get a response out to you ASAP.
We thank you for your patience and apologies for any inconvenience.
Kind regards,
Information team
Stephen Whiteside left an annotation ()
Following the failure to act on the Information Commissioner's Decision Notice of 1 December 2023, the Council has seemingly now also ignored a ‘final’, 7-day warning letter.
I will now inform the ICO that I have still to receive the information first requested on 22 September 2023, and ask that the file is passed to the Commissioner's solicitors.
Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA
Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]
Dear Stephen Whiteside
Request FOI/8326
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Your request has been considered under the provisions of the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004. Please accept our apologies for the lengthy
delay in responding to you. Specifically, you have requested the following
information:
“54 Arkwright Road - Building Regs Final Certificate (8 Sept 2021)
According to the Council's website, the Application Completion Date for
works under Initial Notice 18/02197/IN at the above address was 8
September 2021.
++++ Please provide a copy of the Final Certificate from the Approved
Inspector, BBS Building Control (now Stroma Building Control)”.
We are unable to provide this information under Regulation 12 (3) and 13
of the Environmental Information Regulations. Information is the personal
data of a person other than the applicant (Regulation 12(3) and Regulation
13)); ICO decision notices suggest that while this information does
concern a building, as this building is one that living individuals reside
within, then the information could be considered to amount to personal
data and therefore be considered to be exempt under the Data Protection
Act.
Furthermore, the council considers this information exempt from disclosure
under Confidentiality of proceedings (Regulation 12(5)(d)); this is where
releasing the requested information would adversely affect the
confidentiality of a public authority’s proceedings where the
confidentiality arises from statute or common law. The term ‘proceedings’
is not restricted to meetings, rather formal activities of the Council
which I feel would cover building control inspections etc.
In this particular case we feel that the confidentiality is provided for
under a Common law duty of confidence, as in this case the Council and the
home owner are engaged in discussions regarding the property and the
interpretation of regulations.
The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)
To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:
[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)
If you are dissatisfied with the way the council has handled your request
under the Environmental Information Regulations you may ask for an
internal review. This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of
this response. You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint
by:
Email: [2][Croydon Borough Council request email]
Writing: Information Team
London Borough of Croydon
Bernard Weatherill House
3^rd Floor - Zone E
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.
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:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Croydon Council
References
Visible links
1. https://croydon.disclosure-log.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
Stephen Whiteside left an annotation ()
According to Regulation 14, the Council had only 20 days to refuse this request. Under Regulation 7, it/they could have informed me that the time period was going to be extended to 40 working days, but they didn't!
The information requested probably consists of a single page, maybe two. It SHOULD provide confirmation that on or around 8 September 2021, an 'approved inspector' signed off the building regulations for this appalling development.
The document SHOULD confirm that Stroma Building Control Ltd had issued Final certificates in respect of all the work described in the Initial Notice (11/09/2018), including drainage systems that would be described at a Planning Committee last year as a 'wholesale breach of planning control', and about which an occupier at the time had the following to say:
"There has been a sewage leak in the building as a direct result of changes made during construction for which planning permission had not been granted. Sewage had been leaking into the foundations ... for upwards of an entire year before any attempts to correct the issue were made. There is still sewage within the foundations. This cannot be cleared while the building is standing. The septic tank frequently overflows and needs to be manually drained, causing a mist of sewage to blow across the area. ..."
Those "changes made during construction for which planning permission had not been granted", were reported (by me) on 23 March 2021. My email (with photographic evidence) was sent to the then-Planning Enforcement Team Leader (Robert Snodin) and copied to Joe Sales (planning case officer), Richard Freeman (South Team Leader), Nicola Townsend (Head of Development Management) and Daisi Osibona (Drainage Engineer).
The Council did NOTHING to prevent that wholesale breach or the consequential nuisance to occupiers and neighbours ... which is ongoing. There are other developments in the area with very similar problems ... and history.
Now I wonder why the Council wouldn't want to provide a copy of that Certificate?
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 '54 Arkwright Road - Building Regs Final Certificate (8 Sept 2021)'.
Regulation 12(3) and 13 [personal data]
++ The property is on a Site that since August 2018 has been owned by a limited company (Arkwright SSB Ltd - Co.Reg.No. 11213651). As I understand it, Arkwright SSB Ltd is NOT an identifiable individual for the purpose of the GDPR.
++ No details have been provided of the 'ICO decision notices' upon which the Council relies.
Regulation 12(5)(d) [Confidentiality of proceedings]
++ The document requested (Stroma's Final Certificate) should be dated 8 September 2021. I have NOT requested information regarding any 'proceedings' or 'discussions' that have taken place since the signing of that Certificate.
++ I note that the Information Commissioner's guidance [Regulation 12(5)(d) – confidentiality of proceedings] confirms that simply referring to PRE-EXISTING information during proceedings does not bring that information within the scope of this exception.
++ The Council has NOT explained the adverse effect it believes would result from disclosure of the Certificate AND exactly why disclosing it would result in that adverse effect.
++ Regulation 12(5)(d) is subject to the Public Interest Test, but none has been carried out.
By regulation 12(2), the authority must apply a presumption in favour of disclosure, in both engaging exceptions AND in carrying out the public interest test.
I submit that there is no 'good' reason for the requested information to be withheld, and that a copy of the Certificate should therefore now be provided, redacted ONLY as required by legislation. [Please note, I do not challenge the withholding of any personal names, email addresses and/or telephone numbers etc that the information might contain.]
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/5...
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Whiteside
Dear Mr Whiteside,
Thank you for your email below.
I can confirm your internal review request has been processed.
Kind regards,
Information Management Team
Croydon Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Floor 3 Zone E, Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA
Dear FOI,
The outcome of your internal review is now overdue [Regulation 11(4)].
If I do not receive this [and a copy of the document requested] by close of business Monday, 15th April 2024, I will again ask the Information Commissioner to investigate.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Whiteside
Dear Stephen Whiteside,
Please accept our sincerest apologies in regards to our delayed response.
I can confirm your email was escalated to our legal team earlier today, and they are currently drafting a response. We will ensure to have a response of our review sent out to you By Monday 15/042/2024.
We apologies for any inconvenience this have caused.
Kind regards,
Information Management Team
Croydon Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Floor 3 Zone E, Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA
Dear Stephen Whiteside,
Further to your email dated 11 February 2024, in which you requested an
Internal Review of the Council’s response to your request for information
made under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), I have now
concluded this review and I am able to reply as follows.
In your request for Internal Review, you asked the Council to reconsider
your request as you believed that you had not been provided with the
information requested.
In your request for information dated 25 September 2023 you requested
the following information:
“54 Arkwright Road - Building Regs Final Certificate (8 Sept 2021)
According to the Council's website, the Application Completion Date for
works under Initial Notice 18/02197/IN at the above address was 8
September 2021.
++++ Please provide a copy of the Final Certificate from the Approved
Inspector, BBS Building Control (now Stroma Building Control)”.
The Council responded to you on the 26 January 2024 and provided the
following response:
“We are unable to provide this information under Regulation 12 (3) and 13
of the Environmental Information Regulations. Information is the personal
data of a person other than the applicant (Regulation 12(3) and Regulation
13)); ICO decision notices suggest that while this information does
concern a building, as this building is one that living individuals reside
within, then the information could be considered to amount to personal
data and therefore be considered to be exempt under the Data Protection
Act.
Furthermore, the council considers this information exempt from disclosure
under Confidentiality of proceedings (Regulation 12(5)(d)); this is where
releasing the requested information would adversely affect the
confidentiality of a public authority’s proceedings where the
confidentiality arises from statute or common law. The term ‘proceedings’
is not restricted to meetings, rather formal activities of the Council
which I feel would cover building control inspections etc.
In this particular case we feel that the confidentiality is provided for
under a Common law duty of confidence, as in this case the Council and the
home owner are engaged in discussions regarding the property and the
interpretation of regulations.”
In your request for an Internal Review dated 11 February 2024, you stated
the following:
“I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's
handling of my FOI request '54 Arkwright Road - Building Regs Final
Certificate (8 Sept 2021)'.
Regulation 12(3) and 13 [personal data]
++ The property is on a Site that since August 2018 has been owned by a
limited company (Arkwright SSB Ltd - Co.Reg.No. 11213651). As I understand
it, Arkwright SSB Ltd is NOT an identifiable individual for the purpose of
the GDPR.
++ No details have been provided of the 'ICO decision notices' upon which
the Council relies.
Regulation 12(5)(d) [Confidentiality of proceedings]
++ The document requested (Stroma's Final Certificate) should be dated 8
September 2021. I have NOT requested information regarding any
'proceedings' or 'discussions' that have taken place since the signing of
that Certificate.
++ I note that the Information Commissioner's guidance [Regulation
12(5)(d) – confidentiality of proceedings] confirms that simply referring
to PRE-EXISTING information during proceedings does not bring that
information within the scope of this exception.
++ The Council has NOT explained the adverse effect it believes would
result from disclosure of the Certificate AND exactly why disclosing it
would result in that adverse effect.
++ Regulation 12(5)(d) is subject to the Public Interest Test, but none
has been carried out.
By regulation 12(2), the authority must apply a presumption in favour of
disclosure, in both engaging exceptions AND in carrying out the public
interest test.
I submit that there is no 'good' reason for the requested information to
be withheld, and that a copy of the Certificate should therefore now be
provided, redacted ONLY as required by legislation. [Please note, I do not
challenge the withholding of any personal names, email addresses and/or
telephone numbers etc that the information might contain.]”
On receiving your request for an Internal Review, I contacted the
Principal Building Control Surveyor and the issues raised in your Internal
Review have been considered.
Having considered your request, the Council believes that providing you
with the requested information is excepted from disclosure as information
is considered to be personal data of a person other than the applicant
(Regulation 12(3) and Regulation 13)).
Personal Data is defined as:
“‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or
identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural
person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular
by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number,
location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to
the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social
identity of that natural person”.
It is understood that this is a residential property and as such could be
considered to amount to personal data as defined above.
Further a number of ICO Decision Notices support this general position,
for example IC-172338-N8C6.
Further the Council considers that the requested information is also
excepted form release as they relate to Confidentiality of Proceedings
where Confidentiality is Provided by Law under Regulation 12(5)(d).
Proceedings is considered to include procedures (“…circumstances where a
public authority exercises its legal decision-making powers”), which can
reasonably be considered to include the Building Control processes.
The Council provides access to Building Control information (and planning
information) via statutory registers which are available for public
inspection:
• [1]Building Control online search
• [2]54 Arkwright Road
The Council considers that in providing this information, in such a manner
it meets its statutory obligations.
Confidentiality of proceedings (regulation 12(5)(d))1 ’, is considered to
include but are not limited to formal meetings to consider matters that
are within the authority’s jurisdiction; situations where an authority is
exercising its statutory decision-making powers; and legal proceedings.
The Council considers that to provide you with the requested information,
where it meets its statutory obligations, via a public register, could
only serve to undermine this process. In that Council’s ability to freely
exchange and receive information and decide upon such matters would be
prejudiced. This could only serve to have an adverse effect of the
Council’s ability to consider and make decisions. As a result the Council
does not consider that the Public Interest supports the release of the
requested information.
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:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Howard Passman
020 8726 6000 ext. 27103
Resources Directorate
Legal Services Division
12th Floor
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.
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Stephen Whiteside left an annotation ()
For those following this request, I was informed by the Information Commissioner's Office on 13 May 2024, that my complaint was now eligible for investigation. [Case Reference: IC-302534-T2H1]
Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for its allocation to a case officer.
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Stephen Whiteside left an annotation ()
Having ignored his request of 10 November 2023 (to provide a substantive response within 10 working days), the Information Commissioner has today issued a formal Decision Notice telling the Council to provide that response within 35 calendar days.
"Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court". (ICO Reference: IC-268033-H6W0)