Dear Sir/Madam,

We have received and logged your information request, ( FOI 5767556 ) which will be treated as a request submitted under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000.

We aim to provide final responses to FOI requests by no later than 20 working days after the day of receipt of a valid request, however we ask that you take account of the below information.

COVID-19 has brought difficult changes and challenges since its outbreak. To protect the health, wellbeing and interests of the public, Stockport Council’s response to and control of the pandemic continues to be high priority, and the changes in working practices may compromise the accessibility and processing of some forms of information. Therefore, this may result in delays to or affect responses to information requests.

If your request is or may be affected, it may be appropriate or necessary to re-submit your request at a later date to obtain the requested information. We will advise you where possible on this matter. In any case, we will continue to aim to respond and issue communications without undue delay.

Please note this communication is in accordance with the updated Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) document ‘The ICO’s regulatory approach during the coronavirus public health emergency’ published 14th July 2020.

If payment of a fee is required for providing the requested information, we will notify you within the above-mentioned 20 working day period, however such fees are usually waived if they amount to less than £10.

Further information about FOI requests can be found via the link below.

https://www.stockport.gov.uk/freedom-of-...

Yours sincerely,

Paul Metcalf
Information Governance Officer
I: Stockport Council | 1st Floor South Stopford House | Stockport | SK1 3XE
: 0161 474 4299
0161 474 3315
: [email address]
p:http://www.stockport.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear Mr
Chait,                                                                                                                                                                  

Please consider this as our formal response to your information request
which was logged under the above reference number and has been treated as
a request made under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000.

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

- Billing Authority Property Reference Code (linking the property to the
public VOA database reference)

- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant or ratepayer)

- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)

- Occupation / Vacancy status

- Date of Occupation / Vacancy

- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds) and/or categories of
reliefs/exemptions granted

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.

Please find the attached dataset, also available via the below link. This
data is regularly updated, published and made accessible on the Council’s
website:

[1]https://data.gov.uk/dataset/f027145b-b55...

Please note that information regarding empty properties is not published.
We also consider this information to be exempt from being required to be
released upon request under section 31 (Law enforcement) of the FOI Act.
Please find our public interest test below which demonstrates our
evaluation of the use of the exemption for this information.

Public Interest Arguments in favour of disclosure

o Releasing the information would comply with Stockport Council’s
commitment to transparency.
o Releasing this information may lead to chances for properties and
local areas to be improved, regenerated, used or re-purposed in a way
which harmonises with the interests of the public.

Public interest factors in favour of upholding the exemption (i.e. against
disclosure)

o Revealing the location of empty properties would risk
consequential crime, damage and anti-social behaviour within the
property and in the surrounding neighbourhood or environment.
Withholding the information prevents consequential risk of unlawful
activity which would maintain public assurance that properties, assets
and individuals are protected by the Council.

Conclusion

The Council has recently experienced fraudulent activity in regard to the
use of property address information and is unwilling to risk substantial
adverse material effects to services, businesses, organisations and
individuals.

We would conclude that the duty of crime prevention is of higher public
interest than the release of information upon request about certain
details of the public, built environment. Without sufficient reasons of
public interest and without being able to know the consequences of
disclosure, we consider that the public interest is in preventing risks to
the welfare of the public and the control of the public environment. We
therefore maintain the section 31 (Law enforcement) exemption and will not
release this element of information.

You can find more about FOI requests via the following link:

[2]https://www.stockport.gov.uk/freedom-of-...

If you have any queries or wish to request an internal review, please
contact [3][email address] or call 0161 474 4299 and quote
your reference number. Please note that internal review requests must be
submitted within 40 working days of the date of response to an information
request.

Complaints or queries can be lodged with the Information Commissioner’s
Office via the following contact points:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

[4]www.ico.gov.uk

0303 123 1113

Yours sincerely,

Robert McCarten

CSS Officer – Information Governance

1^st Floor South, Stopford House

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, SK1 3XE

Tel: 0161 474 3319

[mobile number]

Confidentiality:- This email, its contents and any attachments are
intended only for the above named. As the email may contain confidential
or legally privileged information, if you are not, or suspect that you are
not, the above named or the person responsible for delivery of the message
to the above named, please delete or destroy the email and any attachments
immediately and inform the sender of the error.

References

Visible links
1. https://data.gov.uk/dataset/f027145b-b55...
2. https://www.stockport.gov.uk/freedom-of-...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
http://www.ico.gov.uk/