All activities authorised under Section 8(3) of the Aldershot and District Military Lands Byelaws

The request was partially successful.

Dear Defence Infrastructure Organisation,

Please provide a list of activities that have been authorised using the powers of Section 8(3) of the Aldershot and District Military Lands Byelaws between Jan 1st 2010 and December 31st 2020.

Ideally the list should include:
Date of issue
Rank or position of issuing authority
Authorised activity or purpose

Yours faithfully,

Simon Brown

DIO Sec-Parli (MULTIUSER), Defence Infrastructure Organisation

Dear Mr Brown,

Your request has been logged under our reference 2021/00285 and the target date for response is 08/02/2021.

Yours sincerely

DIO Secretariat

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DIO Sec-Parli (MULTIUSER), Defence Infrastructure Organisation

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Brown,

 

Please find attached response to FOI00285.

 

Kind regards

 

Dear Defence Infrastructure Organisation,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Defence Infrastructure Organisation's handling of my FOI request 'All activities authorised under Section 8(3) of the Aldershot and District Military Lands Byelaws'.

This request has not delivered information we know exists, or strongly believe it exists.

The following activities are in breach the bylaws. At least one has been authorised by means of a Section 8(3) notice:

Ramblers walking as a group.
Horse riding permits.
Commercial dog walking permits.

I am therefore asking that a review is conducted as I do not believe the answer provided is accurate:

1. What activities have been authorised under Section 8(3) of the byelaws? Clearly there are activities that would otherwise be in breach and knowing the complete list of all activities is important.

2. If activities that would otherwise be in breach of the byelaws are permitted and are not conducted under a Section 8(3) notice, what powers are being exercised to permit them?

Without clarity those in receipt of a permit may still remain liable for prosecution - Section 8(3) is as far as we know the only mechanism to permit such activity and therefore the requested information must exist and should be provided.

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

Yours faithfully,

Simon Brown

CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER), Defence Infrastructure Organisation

Dear Mr Brown,

 

Receipt is acknowledged of your email of 10 February 2021 requesting an
internal review of a response provided by the Defence Infrastructure
Organisation under FOIA on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, dated 8
February 2021 (reference above).

 

The Department's target for completing internal reviews is 20 working days
from date of receipt and we therefore aim to complete the review and
respond to you by 10 March 2021. While we are working hard to achieve
this, in the interests of providing you with a realistic indication of
when you should expect a response, the majority are currently taking
between 20 and 40 working days to complete.  The review will involve an
independent assessment of the handling of this request and the outcome.

 

We should also advise that the measures implemented by the Department to
prevent the spread of Coronavirus may impact upon our ability to complete
the review within the above timescale but we will aim to provide you with
an update, if necessary

 

Yours sincerely,

 

MOD Information Rights Compliance Team

 

Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER),

It is close to the deadline for a response, so I am inquiring to see if there has been any progress?

I should make you aware that since raising the request we have become aware of another activity that DIO have authorised on the lands. As the only powers to authorise activities that contravene the byelaws are contained in Section 8(3) we are anticipating a full disclosure - the information we are requesting must exist,

The alternative is all those who think they are authorised (professional dog walkers, horse riders etc) have no such authorisation.

We look forward to clarification on this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Brown

CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER), Defence Infrastructure Organisation

Dear Mr Brown,

Thank you for your enquiry. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide you with a completed internal review this week. However, we can confirm that there has indeed been progress and work is nearly complete. Hopefully, we shall be in a position to send it to you next week. In our acknowledgement of 11 February, we advised that while we aim to complete reviews within 20 days, the majority are currently taking between 20 and 40 working days to complete. This is proving to be correct in this case. We will contact you again just as soon as the review process is completed.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not specify an actual timescale for reviews. However, if you are dissatisfied with the handling of your complaint you have an absolute right at any time to contact the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Act. Further details of the role and powers of the Commissioner can be found on her website at: www.ico.org.uk . Her address is: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, WILMSLOW, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

MOD Information Rights Compliance Team

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CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER), Defence Infrastructure Organisation

1 Attachment

PSA

 

MOD Information Rights Compliance Team

Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER) & Sandra,

Thank you for your reply. This statement:

"15. In your appeal I note that you state that “Clearly there are activities that would otherwise be in breach and knowing the complete list of all activities is important”. I have been unable to find a definitive list of all activities that are in breach of the byelaws, and it is unlikely that one exists."

Is not correct.

Section 4 of the Aldershot and District Military Byelaws (1976) is entitled "Prohibited Activities" and contains a definitive list of activities that breach the byelaws.

FYI - We are aware of the following activities that have been authorised by DIO:

4(9) Grazing animals - Wildlife Trusts
4(1) Driving a vehicle - Wildlife Trusts
4(3) Professional Dog Walking via the permit scheme
4(2) Horse Riding via the permit scheme
4(15) Posters - Wildlife Trusts
4(16) Light Fires - Wildlife Trusts
4(5) Assemble in a group - Farnham Ramblers
4(2) Ride a bicycle (DIO are trying to ignore that one...but an agreement to cycle was reached in 2019)

The only permitted legal means - as far as we can tell - to authorise the above is via Section 8(3) of said byelaws.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Brown

Dear Defence Infrastructure Organisation,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Defence Infrastructure Organisation's handling of my FOI request 'All activities authorised under Section 8(3) of the Aldershot and District Military Lands Byelaws'.

Following a subsequent FOI the contents of this response are misleading or inaccurate. I would be most grateful if the errors are corrected and the records set straight.

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

Yours faithfully,

Simon Brown

CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER), Defence Infrastructure Organisation

Dear Mr Brown,

 

I apologise for the delay in responding.

 

The prohibited activities listed within the Byelaws were correct at the
time of publication, and as you are aware the Byelaws are currently under
review and subject to amendment. As it is possible that further activities
could have been authorised since the Byelaws were originally published, I
cannot confirm that the list of prohibited activities you refer to is
current and definitive. I apologise for not explaining why I did not
consider the lists within the Byelaws to be definitive lists within the
review.

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the response to your information request
it is open to you to contact the Information Commissioner under the
provisions of Section 50 of the Act. Further details of the role and
powers of the Commissioner can be found on her website at: www.ico.org.uk
. Her address is: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, WILMSLOW, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Yours sincerely,

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandra Gardiner

 

Head of MOD Information Rights Compliance Team