Good Morning

Thank you for your request for information, your original request of 10^th
June stated:

“Please publish a list of all council owned land (by address or nearest
location), the indicative value of that land and the date of the most
recent valuation.”

The Head of Facilities Management wrote to you on 23^rd June requesting
clarification as to the information you are asking for. Your reply of the
same date was:

“I am after a list of the 400 sites that were referred to in David
[Armstrong]'s letter to me when trying to explain the misconduct of the
staff in Asset Management re Fernbank Farm.”

The final question of your request submitted on 24^th February (our
reference 752186) asked:

“I also request a list of the 400 tenanted sites and all other
non-tenanted sites; why the manner of disposal imposed on Fernbank Farm
was rejected for those 400 sites and the indicative value of those sites,
based on most recent valuation.”

Rosemary Lyon had responded to a previous enquiry from you, in relation to
the 400 sites. Her response on 9^th May 2014 stated:

“I consider that the exception contained in Regulation 12 (5)(e) of the
2004 [Environmental Information] Regulations applies to this part of your
request for information. Regulation 12 (5)(e) provides that a public
authority may refuse to disclose information to the extent that its
disclosure would adversely affect the confidentiality of commercial or
industrial information where such confidentiality is provided by law to
protect a legitimate economic interest. I have had regard to the guidance
issued by the Information Commissioner, “Confidentiality of commercial or
industrial information (regulation 12 (5) (e).”)

I consider that the information you are requesting is commercial in
nature, in that it relates to commercial activity in relation to the
Council itself, the owner of the sites and commercial activity in respect
of third parties, namely the tenants of those sites. I consider that the
Council is under a duty of confidentiality to those third parties in
respect of the information about tenanted sites owned by the Council .I
consider that the confidentiality is protecting a legitimate economic
interest both of the Council and those third parties and that disclosure
of the information at this time would adversely affect the legitimate
economic interests of the third parties and the Council. To disclose
information concerning non-tenanted sites, could adversely affect the
Council’s legitimate economic interest in selecting appropriate tenants.

I am required by Regulation 12 (1) (b) to consider the public interest
test in applying this exception. Disclosure of the information requested
included recent valuation would be likely to prejudice the commercial
interests of the Council and adversely affect its bargaining position
which would result in less effective use of public money. Disclosure of
the information would make it less likely that companies or individuals
would negotiate with the Council in respect of tenancies. I am therefore
satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs
the public interest in disclosing the information.”

The Council considers your request originally made on 10^th June and
clarified on 23^rd June to be a duplicate of the above question. Please
see the original response that was sent to you by Rosemary Lyon above.
This response still stands and is valid as a response for this current
enquiry. The Council does not consider that a reasonable interval has
elapsed between the response of 9^th May 2014 and the subsequent request
of 10^th June 2014 for the response to have altered.

You previously requested an internal review of your original request and
this has now been concluded and sent to you. A request for an Internal
Review of this current enquiry would illicit a duplicate reply from the
Council, as the passage of time is not significant between your original
and current request.

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you also have the right to
complain to the Information Commissioner, whose address is

The Information Commissioner’s Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

SK9 5AF

[1]www.ico.gov.uk

Kind regards,

Sent on behalf of

Tracy O'Hare

Information Management

Transformation and Resources

Wirral Council

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.

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/ blocked::http://www.ico.gov.uk/ http://www.ico.gov.uk/
http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for your further email below. 

To clarify the Council’s position, we consider this request to be a
repeated request, therefore the original response sent by Rosemary Lyon
stands as a valid response for this enquiry.  The time interval between
your requests means that the Council only needs to reiterate it’s first
response to you; as it does not consider that a reasonable interval has
elapsed for the response to have altered. 

 You have had an Internal Review of your original request and the detail
of it would be our substantive response, if you requested an Internal
Review for the latest enquiry.  You do however have the right to complain
to the Information Commissioner, whose address is:-

The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, , Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF   [1]www.ico.gov.uk

Kind regards,

Jane Corrin

Information and Central Services Manager

Transformation and Resources

Wirral Council

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.

From: Ian Lewis [mailto:[FOI #215912 email]]
Sent: 27 June 2014 10:05
To:
Subject: Re: FOI 810602 - Ian Lewis - List of Council Owned Land

Dear ,

With respect, you advised me that my request was being handled as a fresh
request and not a follow up to the original.  Therefore, why have you
repeated the response from Rosemary Lyon from the original request?

Are you telling me the Council refuses to supply me with a list of the
sites referred to by the Council in a letter to me?

Yours sincerely,

Ian Lewis

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References

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1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/ blocked::http://www.ico.gov.uk/ http://www.ico.gov.uk/
http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Good Afternoon

Please find the requested documents attached.

Kind regards,

Sent on behalf of

Tracy O'Hare

Information Management

Transformation and Resources

Wirral Council

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.

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Good Afternoon

Further to your email of 11 August, please find Wirral Borough Council’s
response below. I apologise for the delay in getting back to you.

The Council is statutorily obliged to maintain an Asset Register in
support of the preparation of Financial Statements.

A copy of the 2012/13 Register is attached which is the latest to be
formally approved by Audit. It is essential to note however that, in
accordance with The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
guidance, only those Assets classified as ‘Investments’ or ‘Assets Held
For Sale’ are assessed at Market Value.

Further, it does not comprise an exhaustive list of asset valuations as
there are various categories that aren’t required to be valued such as
those, for example, which are judged by the Head of Financial Services to
be de minimis, and those classed as Heritage Assets.  From 2014, Community
Assets will be held at Historic Cost and so don’t require a valuation.

Kind regards,

Sent on behalf of

Tracy O'Hare

Information Management

Transformation and Resources

Wirral Council

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.

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