Complete Non-Residential / Business Property Rates Data

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council,

In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, 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 Code
- 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)

While such data series are often published by local authorities, I have undertaken a thorough search of your website and have not found these. If they are available, as requested, then please - in terms of Section 21 of the act - could you provide a link to the page where the data are published, as well as guidance on the update frequency.

I appreciate that properties owned / rented by individuals are personal information and such personal data (i.e. the Firm's Trading Name) would be excluded from my request in terms of Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In such cases, please provide the remaining information with the Firm's Trading Name either blank or listed as 'individual'.

Please provide this as machine-readable as either a CSV or Microsoft Excel file, capable of re-use, and under terms of the Open Government Licence.

I am compiling a comprehensive time-series database of business activity across the UK and will require the dataset updated on a quarterly basis. Some 20% of local authorities already provide this dataset (and a total of 30% of local authorities provide a subset of these data) on a monthly to quarterly basis on a dedicated page on their websites or on an open data service. I would appreciate it if you could do the same.

Yours faithfully,

Gavin Chait

Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Dear Gavin,

Thank you for your request for information regarding Business Rates (reference number FOI-00365). Your request was received on the 14/03/2016 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

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 we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this request, please contact Information Governance on 01254 585651. Alternatively, our email address is [Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email].

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Kind Regards,

Heather Wolstenholme
Freedom of Information Officer
ITM&G Floor G,
Tower Block,
Blackburn Town Hall,
Blackburn,
BB1 7DY

Tel: 01254 585651

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Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Dear Gavin,

Thank you for your request for information regarding Business Rates (reference number FOI-00365). Please accept our sincere apologies but there has been a slight delay in providing a response to your request for info, please can we politely request a few day extension to finalise a response? This would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Dear Accesstoinformation,

That will be fine, thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin Chait

Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Gavin,

Thank you for your request for information regarding Business Rates (reference number FOI-00365); please see our response attached. If you have any queries regarding your request for information then please don’t hesitate to contact me.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to: Sarah Slater, Information Governance Manager, Information Governance, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, G Floor, Town Hall, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB1 7DY or email [Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email].

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Please find attached our 'have your say' feedback policy.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Dear Accesstoinformation,

Thank you for the data provided, however - in terms of my original request - are you able to provide occupation status for each property (occupied / vacant)?

Yours sincerely,

Gavin Chait

Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Dear Gavin,

Unfortunately the system is not always updated fully to show accurate records of occupancy etc & it would not therefore be possible to accurately supply the information requested.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Dear Accesstoinformation,

It doesn't have to be massively accurate. Some authorities only update occupation data once a year. I'm happy to take whatever version of the occupation data you have.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin Chait

Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Dear Gavin, The report already highlights which properties have empty exemptions etc so it should be possible to work it out from the information supplied?

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Dear Accesstoinformation,

Yes, thanks, I've noticed that. However, there are no column headings over the data so a little tricky to figure out what each refers to.

Column F - some integer?
Column G - Does that apply to empty status (e.g. Industrial Hereditament)?
Column H, I, J - Dates
Column K - I assume this is the rateable value?

Are you able to provide me with labels for these?

Yours sincerely,

Gavin Chait