Closure / restriction of navigation

The request was partially successful.

Dear Environment Agency,

Below is copied from previously initiated FOI that I request is ongoing.

I worked with the FOI information in correspondance to a Environmnet Agency officer with the aim of obtaining further detail and bringing the matter to a conclusion however the officer has informed me that if my enquiry requires charges (I asked for further legal clarification pertinent to "public order" in the 1931 act given to me via this site in full, details below) I would be invoiced.

A request to confirm if "public order" had been the part of the 1931 Act pertinent to the decision to close/restrict the navigation I was informed my enquiry was a duplicate request which was responded to in full - on the the 31st of )October 2011.

7 August 2011
Dear Environment Agency,

Please inform me of the legislation used to close Thames navigation
n used re reclassification of Thames navigation to a
non navigation thence permitting closure

Yours faithfully,

Edward Surridge
30 August 2011
Dear Mr Surridge,

Further to your recent enquiry through the "What Do They Know" website.

In answer to your enquiry relating to the relevant Act concerning the
closure of a navigable Main river is as follows.

It is section 79(2) of the Thames Conservancy Act 1932 the relevant part
of which states:

Provided also that notwithstanding anything in this section the
Conservators may from time to time exclude the public for a limited period
from specified portions of the Thames for purposes connected with the
navigation or with any public work or uses or for the preservation of
public order.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards

Via this method I ask what guidelines / regulations cover charges and invoicing of charges to members of the public involved in correspondance to the environment agency and if public order can be confirmed as the reason for closure / restriction to the navigation.

yours sincerley ES

Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

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Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

Dear Mr Surridge

Thank you for your enquiry regarding closures & restrictions on the Thames.

For your information, I have passed your query to our local External Relations Team (Planning and Corporate Services) for advice. They will check whether we hold this information and they will be in touch with you shortly.

The External Relations team have 20 working days from the date we receive your enquiry to provide a response, and they will get this to you as soon as possible.

Should you wish to contact them in the meantime, their details are below. Please quote your Enquiry Ref 111111/AD02 in your correspondence with us.

External Relations
Planning and Corporate Services
Environment Agency
South East Region, West Thames Area
Redkite House
Howbery Park
WALLINGFORD
OX10 8BD
Tel: 03708 506506

Kind Regards

Alison Debenham

Environment Agency,National Customer Contact Centre
Part of National Operations

+ Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Avenue, Parkway Business Park, Sheffield, S9 4WF

' Tel 03708 506 506

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WT Enquiries, Environment Agency

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Surridge

 

Our Ref WT 2928

 

Thank you for your e-mail in which you ask

 

     Via this method I ask what guidelines / regulations cover charges

     and invoicing of charges to members of the public involved in

     correspondance to the environment agency and if public order can be

     confirmed as the reason for closure / restriction to the

     navigation.

    

By asking “via this method” I believe you mean via Freedom of Information.

 

Requests for information that is recorded are generally governed by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).The information you have requested
is environmental and it is therefore exempted from the provisions of FOIA
by FOIA s.39(1). We have therefore considered your request under the
provisions of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

 

I ask what guidelines / regulations cover charges

     and invoicing of charges to members of the public involved in

     correspondance to the environment agency

 

Generally no fee will be applied for non-commercial use of our
information.  The acknowledgement you received on receipt of your e-mail
was a generic response used for all enquiries, whether received from
commercial companies or members of the public.  As far as I am aware we
have never sent you an invoice.  Please see below links to our website
which gives details of when we can charge. 

 

[1]http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/abo...

[2]http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/bus...

 

if public order can be

     confirmed as the reason for closure / restriction to the

     navigation.

 

No, with respect this is not correct. We have not placed the booms across
the stream for the preservation of public order. We have done so under
section 79(1) of the 1932 Act for, as stated in the proviso to that
sub-section, “purposes connected with the navigation”. More specifically,
due to the low bridges along the Castle Mill stream, and the weir itself
preventing through passage, the stream is only navigable by small craft.
British Waterways applied for Environment Agency consent to install a
safety boom across the stream. During the pre-application consultation we
specified that the boom structure should consist of a “dog-legged” design
to allow passage for small craft, such as canoes and rowing boats, when
conditions are safe to do so. We have granted British Waterways consent
for the boom and have provided you with full details of the consent in a
response to an earlier request from you dated 27^th May 2011.

 

I hope that we have correctly interpreted your request.  Please may I draw
your attention to our attached standard notice.

 

Rights of appeal

If you are not satisfied with our response to your request for
information, you can contact us

to ask for our decision to be reviewed. If you are still not satisfied
following this, you can

make an appeal to the Information Commissioner, who is the statutory
regulator for

Freedom of Information. The address is: Office of the Information
Commissioner, Wycliffe

House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Tel: 01625 545700.

Fax: 01625 524 510.

E-mail:[email address].

Website: http//www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

 

Kind Regards

 

Jean Fulker

External Relations Officer

Direct dial: 01491 828307

External Relations
Planning and Corporate Services
Environment Agency
South East Region, West Thames Area
Red Kite House, Howbery Park, Wallingford,

OX10 8BD

P   Here at the Environment Agency we have recently been awarded the
ISO-accredited CEMARS standard. This recognises the great work that we
have done to manage and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions over the last
three years.

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