Complete Non-Residential / Business Property Rates Data (Section 31, Q2 2018)

The request was successful.

Dear South Gloucestershire Council,

In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, and subject to section 40(2) on excluding personal data, could you please provide me with a complete and up-to-date list of all business (non-residential) property rates data for your local authority, and including the following fields:

- Billing Authority Property Reference Code (linking the property to the VOA database reference)
- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant)
- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)
- Occupied / Vacant
- Date of Occupation / Vacancy
- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds)

If you are unable to provide an absolute “Occupation / Vacancy” status, please provide the Exemptions and / or Reliefs that a particular property may be receiving.

Let me state this clearly: I recognise that you ordinarily refuse to release these data. For the last two years I have been pursuing refusals before the Information Commissioner. To date, I have received fifteen decisions in my favour:

FS50628943 vs Cornwall Council; citing Section 31(1)(a);
FS50628978 vs London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council; citing Section 31(1)(a);
FS50681246 vs London Borough of Camden; citing Section 31(1)(a);
FS50681250 vs London Borough of Greenwich; citing Section 31(1)(a) and Section 38(1)(b);
FS50681266 vs Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames Borough; citing Section 31(1)(a);
FS50681283 vs Westminster City Council who cited Section 31(1)(a);
FS50681292 vs London Borough of Wandsworth; citing Section 31(1)(a);
FS50681297 vs Knowsley Metropolitan Borough; citing Section 31(1)(a), 40(2), and 41;
FS50681322 vs West Berkshire Council; citing Section 31(1)(d);
FS50681326 vs Vale of Glamorgan; citing Section 31(1)(a);
FS50681332 vs Doncaster Metropolitan Borough; citing Section 31(1)(a);
FS50681336 vs Sheffield City Council; citing Section 31(1)(a), 31(1)(d), and 41;
FS50685343 vs London Borough of Ealing; citing Section 31(1)(a), 31(1)(d), and 31(2);
FS50685350 vs Liverpool City Council; citing Section 31(1)(a);
FS50685375 vs West Lancashire Borough Council; citing 31(1)(a);

In each of these decisions, the Commissioner either dismissed the application of the exemptions cited, or declared that “the public interest in the information being disclosed outweighs that in the exemption being maintained”.

92% of local authorities now publish commercial vacancy data. 65% publish these as regular updates to their authority websites or open data services.

I am determined to secure 100% publication and your continued refusal wastes both your and my time and money. Any delay or refusal on your part will be referred to ICO for a decision.

Please provide these data as machine-readable as either a CSV or Microsoft Excel file, capable of re-use, and under terms of the Open Government Licence (meaning reuse for any and all purposes, including commercial).

Yours faithfully,

Gavin Chait

Freedom of information, South Gloucestershire Council

Dear Mr Chait

Thank you for your request for information in relation to Business Rates. Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 refers to information which is accessible to the applicant by other means. The information you have requested is available on our website, which can be accessed here: http://www.southglos.gov.uk/business/bus...

Kind Regards

Sarah Masters
Customer Relations Officer
South Gloucestershire Council
Chief Executive & Corporate Resources Department
Finance & Customer Services
 
Telephone: 01454 86 8009
Email: [email address]
Post: South Gloucestershire Council, Chief Executive & Corporate Resources, Customer Relations, PO Box 1953, Bristol, BS37 0DB

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of information,

Thank you for your response and rejection of my request. I will be referring this to ICO for appeal, however, this will be after a series of appeals on this matter to the First-tier Tribunal.

Given the implications, I have asked ICO if they will accept a delay in my appeal against your decision and they have accepted that I should wait until after the Tribunal findings. This is to inform you of that delay.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin Chait

Freedom of information, South Gloucestershire Council

Dear Mr Chait

Thank you for your email dated 14.05.2018 notifying us of your intention to escalate this matter to the ICO. I would be most grateful if you could please clarify what, with regards to our response, you are unhappy with?

We have not rejected your request but have, under Exemption Section 21, referred you to our website where this information is already accessible.

Kind Regards

Sarah Masters
Customer Relations Officer
South Gloucestershire Council
Chief Executive & Corporate Resources Department
Finance & Customer Services
 
Telephone: 01454 86 8009
Email: [email address]
Post: South Gloucestershire Council, Chief Executive & Corporate Resources, Customer Relations, PO Box 1953, Bristol, BS37 0DB

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of information,

Your website states rather unequivocally: "We do not publish information which would identify an empty property."

Since part of my request is for you to specifically identify empty properties, your response counts as a refusal, albeit without any justification for that refusal.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin Chait

Freedom of information, South Gloucestershire Council

Dear Mr Chait

Thank you for your email below. Please accept my sincere apologies that this particular element of your request was overlooked. This will now be passed to our Revenues Team who will be asked to consider this element of your request and to respond appropriately.

Kind Regards

Sarah Masters
Customer Relations Officer
South Gloucestershire Council
Chief Executive & Corporate Resources Department
Finance & Customer Services
 
Telephone: 01454 86 8009
Email: [email address]
Post: South Gloucestershire Council, Chief Executive & Corporate Resources, Customer Relations, PO Box 1953, Bristol, BS37 0DB

show quoted sections

Revs Bens FOI, South Gloucestershire Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Chait

Please find attached a response to your recent Freedom of Information request. Our website will be updated in due course.

Yours sincerely

Alexandra Di-Duca
Assistant System Support Manager
Finance, Revenues and Welfare Service
South Gloucestershire Council

___________________________________________________________________________

South Gloucestershire Council. Achieving excellence for our residents and their
communities, ensuring South Gloucestershire continues to be a great place to
live and work

show quoted sections

#####################################################################################
Scanned by MailMarshal - M86 Security's comprehensive email content security solution.
Download a free evaluation of MailMarshal at www.m86security.com
#####################################################################################