Argos Market Consultation Documents
Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,
Please supply me with all community consultation documents council officers or outside consultants have produced relating to the proposed Argos market in Birkenhead town centre.
Yours faithfully,
Erebus Smith
Dear Erebus Smith
We acknowledge receipt of your request for information.
*Please note that whilst we aim to comply with the legislative timescales,
we are currently dealing with a very high volume of requests which will
lead to a delay in our response times. We apologise for any inconvenience
this may cause. You may wish to check our website [1]www.wirral.gov.uk to
see if the information you require is currently published and available
online.
The Information Management service will be closed over the Christmas
period from 22 December 2023 - 2 January 2024. Any request received after
Monday 27 November 2023 is likely to be delayed as a result of this
holiday period.
Your patience is greatly appreciated.
Yours sincerely
Tracy O'Hare
Information Management Officer
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email:[2][email address]
Visit our website: [3]www.wirral.gov.uk
This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free
to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge
Dear Mr Smith
A response to your recent FOI enquiry is due today but as a result of
resourcing issues and a high volume of enquiries, we regret that we will
be unable to respond on time.
Please accept our apologies for this delay, we do try to meet the
statutory timeframe wherever possible. However given the current backlog
of enquiries we will require additional time to collate a response. We
aim to reply within the next 10 working days but will keep you informed.
Thank you for your patience.
Yours sincerely
Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Finance – Digital and Improvement
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email: [1][email address]
Visit our website: [2]www.wirral.gov.uk
Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,
There is no excuse for this delay. No consultations have taken place and no documents exist.
Please commence the internal revenue or confirm what is already known.
I am writing to request an internal review of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Argos Market Consultation Documents'.
[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]
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,
Erebus Smith
Dear Erebus Smith
Thank you for your enquiry.
The Council has appointed independent market specialist consultants to
undertake consultation with traders and the wider community as part of the
further work to assess the potential of the former Argos store as a home
for Birkenhead Market. This work has commenced and is due to be completed
before the end of March 2024.
Yours sincerely
Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Finance – Digital and Improvement
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email: [1][email address]
Visit our website: [2]www.wirral.gov.uk
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.
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Good morning Lynette,
And thanks for your reply.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t answer my request.
I made my request on 20 December and it stated “Please supply me with all community consultation documents council officers or outside consultants have produced relating to the proposed Argos market in Birkenhead town centre”.
I’m pretty sure the Council has three reasonable choices when responding.
1. Give me the documents requested. (If they existed)
2. State I can’t have the documents requested for some spurious reason.
3. Confirm that no consultations had taken place (as of 29 December) and therefore no documents exist.
I would like the council to fulfil its obligations under FOI legislation and give me an accurate response.
Cheers
Erebus Smith.
Dear Mr Featherstone
We write in response to your request for an internal review following your
reply received 6 March 2024.
You have expressed you are dissatisfied with the response to your question
that had asked :
‘Please supply me with all community consultation documents council
officers or outside consultants have produced relating to the proposed
Argos market in Birkenhead town centre.’
Wirral Council answered your request 6 March 2024 as follows:
The Council has appointed independent market specialist consultants to
undertake consultation with traders and the wider community as part of
the further work to assess the potential of the former Argos store as a
home for Birkenhead Market. This work has commenced and is due to be
completed before the end of March 2024.
We have also noted your further comments submitted 6 March 2024:
‘Unfortunately, it doesn’t answer my request.
I made my request on 20 December and it stated “Please supply me with all
community consultation documents council officers or outside consultants
have produced relating to the proposed Argos market in Birkenhead town
centre”. I’m pretty sure the Council has three reasonable choices when
responding.
1. Give me the documents requested. (If they existed) 2. State I can’t
have the documents requested for some spurious reason.
3. Confirm that no consultations had taken place (as of 29 December) and
therefore no documents exist.
I would like the council to fulfil its obligations under FOI legislation
and give me an accurate response. ‘
The Council thanks you for your email and this internal review response
can confirm, that consultation was undertaken with the Birkenhead Market
Traders Association (BMTA) in advance of ERH Committee on 6^th December
2023. Noting feedback from the BMTA, officers made recommendations to the
committee that reflected the feedback of traders. Wider consultation has
been undertaken with existing market traders as part of next steps and a
wider public consultation is due to be undertaken in April 2024 in
relation to what people would like to see in a new market offer to inform
finalisation of the design.
This concludes your internal review. If you remain dissatisfied you may
wish complain to the Information Commissioner‘s Office.
To assist you the information Commissioner details can be found at this
link [1]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Yours sincerely
Tracy O'Hare
Information Management Officer
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email:[2][email address]
Visit our website: [3]www.wirral.gov.uk
This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free
to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge
Hi Tracey,
I hope you’re well and thanks for the response.
My original request dated 20 December stated..
“Please supply me with all community consultation documents council officers or outside consultants have produced relating to the proposed Argos market in Birkenhead town centre.”
Your latest response states..
“The Council - response can confirm, that consultation was undertaken with the Birkenhead Market Traders Association (BMTA) in advance of ERH Committee on 6^th December 2023. Noting feedback from the BMTA, officers made recommendations to the committee that reflected the feedback of traders.”
1: Officers claim consultations took place in “advance of ERH Committee on 6^th December 2023”.. Please confirm where and when this consultation took place and the positions held by all attendees.
2: Officers go on to claim that “Noting feedback from the BMTA, officers made recommendations to the committee that reflected the feedback of traders”.. My original request asks for all documents produced relating to any consultations, this request would include any “notes”, why have these notes not been released in accordance with my FOI request?
3: Officers state “Wider consultation has been undertaken with existing market traders as part of next steps.”
This statement implies consultations have already taken place with existing market traders and therefore I will make a separate NEW INFORMATION REQUEST.
Kindest regards
Cheers
Alan
Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,
Here is the revised text:
Please forward this to the person in charge of conducting Freedom of Information reviews, the Council’s Freedom of Information Compliance Officer for examination, and the Council’s Audit Team as a complaint. I will need a complaint reference number.
I am writing to request an internal review of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request for 'Argos Market Consultation Documents'.
In the Council's response, it was stated that consultation was carried out with the Birkenhead Market Traders Association (BMTA) prior to the ERH Committee meeting on 6th December 2023. I am specifically seeking the notes from this consultation mentioned in the response under "NOTING FEEDBACK".
The Freedom of Information Act grants a general right of access to information held by public authorities. Section 1 of the Act states that “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; and
b) if that is the case to have that information communicated to him”.
Please adhere to either option A or B and refrain from obfuscation.
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,
Erebus Smith
AKA Alan Featherstone
Dear Mr Featherstone
Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to the points
raised in your last email seeking an internal review. Please see comments
below.
1: Officers claim consultations took place in “advance of ERH Committee on
6^th December 2023”.. Please confirm where and when this consultation took
place and the positions held by all attendees.
The Council engaged with the BMTA on a number of occasions prior to the
committee meeting on the 6^th of ^ December. The lead officer for this
meeting is Marcus Shaw and those attending from the BMTA would be their
management team. Meetings were held on:
15 August 2023 - individual market traders
15 November 2023 - individual market traders
4 December 2023 - Argos Site Visit with BMTA
5 December 2023 - Argos Site Visit with Trader Meeting
Names of those traders involved in the meetings above are exempt from
disclosure under S40(2) FOIA to protect the individual data rights of 3^rd
parties.
2: Officers go on to claim that “Noting feedback from the BMTA, officers
made recommendations to the committee that reflected the feedback of
traders”.. My original request asks for all documents produced relating
to any consultations, this request would include any “notes”, why have
these notes not been released in accordance with my FOI request
The Freedom of Information Act provides a right of access to recorded
information, not to specific documents. We have provided you with the
information held and would also clarify, with regard to reference to
“Noting feedback from the BMTA, officers made recommendations to the
committee that reflected the feedback of traders”, the use of the word
‘noting’ is a turn of phrase, indicating that feedback had been received
and acted upon. It does not indicate the existence of recorded
information.
This concludes your enquiry. You have no further right to internal review,
having exhausted the process. Any further complaint in relation to this
specific enquiry should be directed to the Information Commissioner’s
Office [1]www.ico.org.uk.
Yours sincerely
Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Law and Corporate Services
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email: [2][email address]
Visit our website: [3]www.wirral.gov.uk
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/
2. mailto:[email%20address]
3. http://www.wirral.gov.uk/
Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,
Please find a copy of an email I have just sent to the Chief Executive, the Complaints department and the Information Teams email address.. Please be assured I am complying with WhatDoTheyKnow house rules by not pursuing this complaint here.
Dear Mr Satoor,
I hope this email finds you well.
I am writing this email to inform you as the Council’s Chief Executive about the recent developments regarding my Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and the conduct of Officers.
Even though I have recently lodged a serious complaint against you I respectfully ask that you give the matters below the attention they deserve. Additionally to ensure total transparency and accountability I ask that you forward this to an outside Authority with a request that they oversee all investigations. I would be extremely grateful if you would inform me where these emails are being sent and should you feel it is unnecessary to seek independent oversight I ask that you inform me of your decision and reasoning without delay.
For your convenience I’ve sent a copy to the Council’s Complaints department for processing along with a request that each complaint is treated separately. Additionally, I have made this information publicly available on the WhatDoTheyKnow website and will also provide copies to Members and other relevant parties. Furthermore, and for your convenience I have attached a link to the WhatDoTheyKnow website which contains a complete chain of communications related to the FOI:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...
Dear Corporate Complaints Team.
I would like to express some concerns and register complaints about the way this Information Request has been handled (see link above) as Marcus Shaw is mentioned as the lead Officer in the latest response I wonder if you’d be kind enough to confirm if he is the Officer responsible for the responses I’ve been receiving, alternatively, please state the positions held by the responsible Officers in your reply. Furthermore, because I have lodged a serious complaint against the Council’s Chief Executive I ask that you ensure these complaints are forwarded to the appropriate outside authority to enable independent oversight. Should you feel this is unnecessary please inform me of that decision and the reasoning behind it without delay.
Complaint One:
Throughout this Information Request, Officers have consistently provided ENGAGEMENT dates, whereas my request specifically sought all CONSULTATION documents. Please note that consulting with stakeholders is a statutory requirement. I believe that a number of Officer are well aware of the distinction between engagement and consultation and are deliberately misinterpreting my FOI requests in an attempt to conceal actions that may very well constitute Misconduct in Public Office.
Complaint Two:
Within my FOI requests the Council have claimed ….
A: “Consultation was undertaken with the Birkenhead Market Traders Association (BMTA) in advance of ERH Committee on 6^th December 2023.
B: “The Council engaged with the BMTA on a number of occasions prior to the committee meeting on the 6^th of ^ December”
C: “please note that these sessions are carried out informally with the BMTA.”
Consultation?
Engagement?
Casual Session?
I do not trust the accuracy of these contradictory statements and wish to complain at the lax standards of these responses. Additionally, if these were in fact consultations why am I still awaiting documents, survey results and Officers working notes?
Complaint Three:
The latest responses states “ The Freedom of Information Act provides a right of access to recorded information, not to specific documents”. I wish to complain that this statement is an attempt to hoodwink me, I’m pretty sure written information recorded in a computer system is classified as a document? PDF springs to mind. How can the Information Team allow this statement into an Information Response?
Complaint Four:
The latest response states “We have provided you with the information held”
My request stated“ Please supply me with all community consultation documents council officers or outside consultants have produced relating to the proposed Argos market in Birkenhead town centre.” And was Dated 20 December 2023.
The Council have NOT provided any the information originally requested.
The Council are required to either…
Provide the documents requested. (If they existed)
State the documents requested will not be provided for some spurious reason
Confirm that no consultation documents existed (as of 29 December)
Complaint Five:
The latest response states “Noting feedback from the BMTA, officers made recommendations to the committee that reflected the feedback of traders, the use of the word ‘noting’ is a turn of phrase, indicating that feedback had been received and acted upon. It does not indicate the existence of recorded information.”
AF stated 15 March : Officers go on to claim that “Noting feedback from the BMTA, officers made recommendations to the committee that reflected the feedback of traders”.. My original request asks for all documents produced relating to any consultations, this request would include any “notes”, why have these notes not been released in accordance with my FOI request?
The Council are obliged to either…
Provide the documents requested. (If they existed)
State the documents requested will not be provided for some spurious reason
Confirm that no consultation documents existed (as of 29 December)
“A turn of phrase” is not a satisfactory way to respond to any Freedom of Information Request, and yes that is a complaint.
Complaint Six:
I wish to complain about the conduct of the Information Team (sorry Lynette & Tracey).
It is unacceptable that responses sent by the Information Team can contain inaccurate information, a soupçon of truth or a “turn of phase”.
I believe the Council owe a duty of care to all Information Requesters and that the information responses should be accurate, above reproach and adhere to the Freedom of Information Act.
This has obviously not happened at Wirral Borough Council and it brings the whole Councils integrity into question. I would respectfully suggest..
A: A full Corporate Peer Challenge is requested of the Local Government Association.
B: Officers at the Service Centre (Registration Directorate) are immediately made fully aware of their responsibilities under the FOI Act. C: The Information Team ensure the Act is adhered to by all Officers when they respond to Information Requests.
Kind regards
Alan Featherstone
Yours sincerely,
Erebus Smith AKA Alan Featherstone
Dear Mr Featherstone
We apologise for the confusion that has arisen in relation to this request
and your similar enquiry entitled ‘Argos market consultation documents
part two’.
In this request you originally asked for “…. all community consultation
documents council officers or outside consultants have produced relating
to the proposed Argos market in Birkenhead town centre”. A response was
sent on 14 March 2024 which prompted a further enquiry of “In the
Council's response, it was stated that consultation was carried out with
the Birkenhead Market Traders Association (BMTA) prior to the ERH
Committee meeting on 6th December 2023. I am specifically seeking the
notes from this consultation mentioned in the response under "NOTING
FEEDBACK".
A response was sent on 5 August providing details of meetings held with
market traders and you subsequently asked for a formal complaint under the
Council’s corporate complaints system to be logged. This is currently
being reviewed as a stage 2 complaint.
In terms of this request, we have provided details of meetings held but
not the supporting documentation and we apologise for this oversight.
Please see the attached consultation documentation. Some third party
personal data has been redacted to protect the data rights of those
individual traders in accordance with the exemption at S40(2) FOIA.
We believe that we have provided you with all information held that falls
within the scope of your enquiry. We have forwarded a copy of this
response to the Information Commissioner’s Office in relation to your
pending complaint.
Yours sincerely
Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Law and Corporate Services
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email: [1][email address]
Visit our website: [2]www.wirral.gov.uk
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.
References
Visible links
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Erebus Smith AKA Alan Featherstone left an annotation ()
Complaint sent to ICO
Hi Team ICO,
I would like to complain about an Information Request I made to Wirral Borough Council on 20 December 2023. The request stated “Please supply me with all community consultation documents council officers or outside consultants have produced relating to the proposed Argos market in Birkenhead town centre.”
The information disclosed by the LA consists of three PDF files, each dated 24. I believe all documents were created after the date of request and the LA are attempting to cover up Officer’s misconduct. I would like to respectfully request that the LA be asked to disclose the information as requested or alternatively declare that no information is held.
Many thanks for your help and assistance in this matter.
Kindest regards.
Cheers
Alan Featherstone
Erebus Smith AKA Alan Featherstone left an annotation ()
Information Commissioner’s Office
Decision notice
Date: 22 January 2025
Public Authority: Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council
Decision (including any steps ordered)
The complainant requested consultation documents relating to the
proposed Argos market in Birkenhead. Wirral Metropolitan Borough
Council (the “Council”) confirmed that the information was not held. The
complainant disputes this.
The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, the
Council did not hold the information at the time of the request and
complied with section 1(1) but that in failing to confirm this in time it
breached section 10(1).
The Commissioner does not require further steps.
Reference: IC-327728-W8L8
Request and response
On 20 December 2023, the complainant wrote to the Council and
requested the following information:
“Please supply me with all community consultation documents council
officers or outside consultants have produced relating to the proposed
Argos market in Birkenhead town centre.”
The Council provided a response on 6 March 2024. This response did not
confirm or deny whether the information was held.
The Council provided a further response on 4 August 2024. This did not
confirm or deny whether the specific information requested was held.
On 26 September 2024 the Council disclosed information with some
redactions for personal information under section 40(2).
Scope of the case
On 20 August 2024 the complainant contacted the Commissioner on to
complain about the way their request for information had been handled.
The Commissioner considers that the scope of his investigation is to
determine whether the Council has disclosed all the information that was
held at the time of the request.
Reasons for decision
Section 1 – duty to provide information held
Under section 1(1) of the FOIA authorities have a duty to confirm or
deny whether information identified in a request is held and, where it is,
to provide it to a requester.
In this case the Council disclosed information to the complainant relating
to the subject of their request but confirmed that it did not specifically
hold community consultation documents. The complainant disputes this.
Where there is some dispute between the amount of information located
by a public authority and the amount of information that a complainant
believes may be held, the Commissioner, following the lead of a number
of First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) decisions, applies the civil
Reference: IC-327728-W8L8
standard of “the balance of probabilities” when deciding whether there is
any further information held by the public authority.
This means that in order to determine such complaints, the
Commissioner must decide whether it is more likely than not that the
public authority holds any information which falls within the scope of the
request (or held it at the time of the request).
In reaching a decision in such cases the Commissioner considers the
evidence provided by both parties.
The complainant’s position
The complainant has argued that the Council has a general tendency to
provide irrelevant and ambiguous information in response to Freedom of
Information requests as a means of sidestepping critical issues. In this
instance, the complainant considers that the Council is attempting to
avoid the implication of “no information is held,” which would indicate a
failure to conduct the statutorily mandated consultation with
stakeholders.
The complainant has also highlighted the Council’s internal review
response of 14 March 2024 which states:
“
…consultation was undertaken with the Birkenhead Market
Traders Association (BMTA) in advance of ERH Committee on 6th
December 2023. Noting feedback from the BMTA, officers made
recommendations to the committee that reflected the feedback of
traders. Wider consultation has been undertaken with existing market
traders as part of next steps and a wider public consultation is due to be
undertaken in April 2024 in relation to what people would like to see in a
new market offer to inform finalisation of the design.”
The complainant considers that, given that consultation took place in
advance of 6 December 2023, associated records of this should be held
by the Council.
The Council’s position
The Council has explicitly confirmed to the Commissioner that it did not
hold any "community consultation documents" at the time of the original
request in December 2023.
In relation to the above cited comments in its internal review, the
Council has stated to the Commissioner that:
“this response was provided by the service responsible for the Market,
and there were inaccuracies made by them when they used the term
Reference: IC-327728-W8L8
'consultation'. There were discussions held with market traders on an
informal basis prior to December 2023, but there was no formal
community/public consultation involving the public. The
community/public consultation took place in September 2024, and the
results of it will be put into final report and published.”
The Commissioner’s conclusions
The Commissioner is mindful that the complainant has broader concerns
about the Council’s handling of the proposed Argos market. It is not the
Commissioner’s role to comment on the Council’s broader governance
practice, however, the Council’s responses to the request lack clarity
and he can appreciate why the complainant might consider them to be
obfuscatory.
He notes that some of the associated information disclosed by the
Council, in addition to not being what was specifically requested, also
post-dates the time of the request. This is not, though, technically a
breach of the legislation.
However, having spent some time pressing the Council on this matter,
the Commissioner is satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, it
correctly confirmed that it did not hold the requested information at the
time of the request.
As such, the Commissioner has decided that the Council complied with
section 1(1) of the FOIA
Section 10 – time for compliance
Section 10(1) of the FOIA requires authorities to comply with section
1(1) promptly and not later than the twentieth working day following the
date of receipt.
In this case the Commissioner finds that the Council failed to explicitly
confirm or deny whether it held the requested information until long
after the date of the request and breached section 10(1).
Reference: IC-327728-W8L8
Other matters
Although they do not form part of this notice the Commissioner would
like to note the following matters of concern.
Request handling
The Council’s handling of this request, which involved delayed and
unclear responses, raises concerns that it might not understand its
obligations under the FOIA or take them sufficiently seriously. The
Commissioner is also concerned that the Council might not have
provided staff with sufficient training in the handling of requests.
The Commissioner appreciates that local authorities have limited
resources and may, on occasion, struggle to deal with the volume of
requests relating to a specific matter or a range of matters. However,
there are measures within the FOIA that authorities can, where relevant,
draw on to manage such scenarios.
Mishandling straightforward requests for information is likely to result in
complaints, initially to the authority and subsequently, as in this case, to
the Commissioner. In the Commissioner’s view this could easily have
been averted in this case if the Council had initially handled the request
properly.
The Commissioner expects the Council to take note of the above and to
ensure future requests are handled appropriately.
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Erebus Smith AKA Alan Featherstone left an annotation ()
Complaint sent to ICO