Berners Pool

Will Bennet made this Freedom of Information request to South Lakeland District Council Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

This request has been withdrawn by the person who made it. There may be an explanation in the correspondence below.

Dear South Lakeland District Council,

Please provide a copy of all inspection reports relating to the condition of the Berners Pool building in Grange Over Sands undertaken by the council in the period 2003 to 2013. This should include but not be limited to the report undertaken by Norfolk Property Services as a result of their inspection on 12 October 2006.

Yours faithfully,

Will Bennet

FOI, South Lakeland District Council

Information Request
 
Thank you for your email.  This is to acknowledge receipt of your
request.  Your request will be handled by an officer who will respond
under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 as appropriate.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before I will proceed to deal with your request.

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. I will write to you in any event.
 
Whilst it is the Council policy to provide information wherever possible,
I need to advise you that there are a number of exemptions under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Exceptions under the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.  These may prevent the Council from
releasing all or some of the information you have asked for.   You will,
however, be informed if this is the case and we will explain why.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Paul Mountford | Principal Performance & Intelligence Officer
South Lakeland District Council, South Lakeland House, Lowther Street,
Kendal, Cumbria LA9 4DQ
Tel: 01539 733333
Email: [1][South Lakeland District Council request email] 
Website: [2]www.southlakeland.gov.uk  
 

  ________________________________  

IMPORTANT CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) INFORMATION: Please note that South
Lakeland District Council is prioritising its work and resources to meet
the demands of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) response. We are also working
hard to maintain our key services and to continue progress on critical
projects. However, the current situation will mean that some non-essential
work and responses to non-essential enquiries may take longer than usual.
We appreciate your understanding during this difficult time.

South Lakeland District Council

Making South Lakeland the best place to live, work and explore

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Nothing in this email message amounts to a contractual or other legal
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  ________________________________  
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References

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1. mailto:[South Lakeland District Council request email]
2. http://www.southlakeland.gov.uk/

Dear South Lakeland District Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of South Lakeland District Council's handling of my FOI request 'Berners Pool'.

No response has been received since the acknowledgement that this would be responded to within 20 working days and no reason given as to why.

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

Yours faithfully,

Will Bennet

FOI, South Lakeland District Council

Information Request
 
Thank you for your email.  This is to acknowledge receipt of your
request.  Your request will be handled by an officer who will respond
under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 as appropriate.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before I will proceed to deal with your request.

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. I will write to you in any event.
 
Whilst it is the Council policy to provide information wherever possible,
I need to advise you that there are a number of exemptions under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Exceptions under the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.  These may prevent the Council from
releasing all or some of the information you have asked for.   You will,
however, be informed if this is the case and we will explain why.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Paul Mountford | Principal Performance & Intelligence Officer
South Lakeland District Council, South Lakeland House, Lowther Street,
Kendal, Cumbria LA9 4DQ
Tel: 01539 733333
Email: [1][South Lakeland District Council request email] 
Website: [2]www.southlakeland.gov.uk  
 

  ________________________________  

IMPORTANT CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) INFORMATION: Please note that South
Lakeland District Council is prioritising its work and resources to meet
the demands of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) response. We are also working
hard to maintain our key services and to continue progress on critical
projects. However, the current situation will mean that some non-essential
work and responses to non-essential enquiries may take longer than usual.
We appreciate your understanding during this difficult time.

South Lakeland District Council

Making South Lakeland the best place to live, work and explore

Information contained in this email is intended only for the individual to
whom it is addressed. It may contain privileged and confidential
information and if you are not the intended recipient you must not copy,
distribute or take any action in reliance on it. If you have received this
email in error please notify the sender immediately by telephone on 01539
733333. Please also destroy and delete the message from your computer.

All communications sent to or from South Lakeland District Council may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

Nothing in this email message amounts to a contractual or other legal
commitment on the part of South Lakeland District Council.

  ________________________________  
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[South Lakeland District Council request email]
2. http://www.southlakeland.gov.uk/

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Bennet,
 
I am writing in respect of your recent request for an Internal Review of
your request under the provisions of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
 
Your request:
 
Please provide a copy of all inspection reports relating to the condition
of the Berners Pool building in Grange Over Sands undertaken by the
council in the period 2003 to 2013. This should include but not be limited
to the report undertaken by Norfolk Property Services as a result of their
inspection on 12 October 2006.
 
Investigation:
 
In support of this investigation, I have attached the redacted email trail
from February 2023, which shows the extent in which our Officer had gone
to prior to our response on the 1^st of June 2023, to ensure they had
spoken with all relevant teams in relation to the ask, as the former South
Lakeland District Council (SLDC).
 
A Principal Specialist in the development management team advised that any
applications on the site would be on the Council’s website and confirmed
building control do not have any records.
 
A Building Surveyor from former SLDC checked records and there was no
electronic file for Berners Swimming Pool, and they were unable to find a
paper file in the property services archive. They were not aware of any
other condition survey other than the one referenced in the request, but
unfortunately this report could not be located. Additionally, they advised
that we could probably claim retention period as a factor as to why we
don’t have the records; although we wouldn’t normally delete/destroy any
records. Finally, they did not think that any other departments would hold
them.
 
This report was done by an external consultant, and it doesn’t look like
it was ever provided electronically, as otherwise there would be an
electronic file with the report in which we could have disclosed. It was
determined that most recorded information at the time (circa 2006) would
have been hard copies. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to believe it was
provided as a hard copy and despite spending time in the property services
basement and archive, the team could not locate it.
 
A colleague in the legal team checked legal files within the Deeds room
and has been unable to locate any inspection reports requested. One of our
specialist Solicitor’s also confirmed with the Building Surveyor, the room
which was previously checked for the hard copy and that searches on the
website had been carried out (links provided below).
 
Finally, our Solicitor from the legal team advised that officers within
Economic Development may have knowledge or may be able to shed light on
where the reports are in relation to this matter. 
 
I also note that the legal team concluded further searches and enquiries
must be made prior to sending a response confirming the Council does not
hold the documents requested.
 
The original Building Surveyor confirmed with the legal team the rooms
they searched were the same as advised, and I can confirm that the
following website searches were carried out: -
 

• A search of the delegated decisions on the website for anything
containing 'Berner' and of the few results, there is nothing which has
the condition survey as an appendix. The search only includes items
from 2012 onwards and the NPS report was done around 2006.
• A search of the electronic files of our estates department and which
showed some results, albeit not the full report. They did have on
file, scanned copies of the conclusion to the report and a summary of
the costings and what appears to be a spreadsheet with the mechanical
and electrical part of the report (note this is across two tabs) –
Attached for reference. They did try to locate the paper file on the
off chance that they filed a copy of the report, but this was
unsuccessful.

 
There is an email trail from March 2023 advising that a Lead Specialist
Officer within the Finance team of the former South Lakeland District
Council (SLDC), which advised that a search could be carried out of the
boxes contained within the Old Town Hall cellar; however due to the
ongoing pressures of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and limited
resource available within the finance team due to end of year tax
procedures, they were not able to facilitate this search.
 
It must be recognised that SLDC failed to respond within the statutory
deadline of the 14^th of March 2023, there was no formal acknowledgement
or apology made to the applicant at this time.
 
On the 17^th of April 2023, following Local Government Reorganisation
(LGR) the team received the same FOI request into Westmorland and Furness
Council (WAF), which rebooted the investigation.
On the 10^th of May 2023, our Case Management Officer wrote to the
Economic Development team in the hope that the requested documentation may
be contained within their own archives.
At around the same time it was established that this was an ongoing
request originally from February 2023, which had taken up several hours of
searching by various teams to no effect. Again, in the middle of March,
the former SLDC Finance team believed there were many boxes of documents
stored within the cellars of the Old Town Hall. Following a reminder email
from our Case Management Officer, the Finance Officer advised that to
extract the relevant information this would involve a manual search of all
paperwork within the cellar, and due to the large volume of archived
documentation, stored in boxes and filing cabinets, it would exceed the
appropriate cost limit.
Response:
Our Case Management Officer issued a response on the 1^st of June along
with an apology for the late response; acknowledging that the council
failed to respond with the statutory 20 working days and apologised for
any inconvenience caused. They explained (which is supported by the
investigation above), that the documents relating to Berners Pool could be
held within two full pallets of unmarked archive boxes and filling
cabinets (located within the cellars of the old Town Hall). Due to the
volume of the archived material, the team estimated it would take at least
20 hours of searching, data checking and copying, which would take the
council over the cost limit for complying under section 12(1) of the
Freedom of Information Act.
As previously advised, public authorities are not obliged to comply with
requests for information if they estimate that the cost of complying with
the request would exceed the appropriate limit. The Freedom of Information
and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 set an
appropriate limit of £450 for public authorities, which equates to 18
hours work at a statutory rate of £25 per hour. Westmorland and Furness
Council estimated it would take a minimum of 20 hours or £500 to comply
with your request.
Conclusion
As this exceeds the appropriate limit, I uphold this refusal, but I do
find the Council at fault due to the length of time taken in applying the
exemption and to respond to your request(s).
Despite this, there is clear evidence in support of the delay, where our
Case Management Officer had gone to significant lengths to try and locate
the requested information from various directorates, which I think is
evidenced within this investigation and the attached emails.
Should you remain dissatisfied following our internal review, you can
refer the matter directly to the Information Commissioner.
 
Further information is available from the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
[1]www.ico.org.uk
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Daria Pawlak
Case Management Officer
Corporate & Enabler Services | Westmorland & Furness Council
South Lakeland House | Lowther Street | Kendal | Cumbria | LA9 4DQ
 
T. 0300 373 3300
[2]westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk
 
 

  ________________________________  
Westmorland and Furness Council

Information contained in this email is intended only for the individual to
whom it is addressed. It may contain privileged and confidential
information and if you are not the intended recipient you must not copy,
distribute or take any action in reliance on it. If you have received this
email in error please notify the sender immediately by telephone on 01539
733333. Please also destroy and delete the message from your computer.

  ________________________________  

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/
2. http://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/