Correspondence in support of the sale of Council HQ and other properties
Dear Bromley Borough Council,
At the full Council meeting of 12th December, the disposal of the current Council HQ at Stockwell Close and disposal of Community House was discussed.
I request the following:
- All correspondence to the Council in support of the disposal of Community House
- All correspondence to the Council in support of the move from Stockwell Close to a new location
- Any other correspondence in support of the disposal of any other properties in the Council's property portfolios (including but not limited to the operational and commercial portfolios).
To help with answering this request, I am particularly interested in correspondence submitted to the Leader of the Council's office, but my request is not limited to the Leader's office. Please disclose any and all correspondence of this nature submitted to the Council.
Note that I am not interested in any of the commercial details of the disposal or potential purchase of alternative/new property, so I do not believe any part of Section 43 of the FOIA applies. Should you disagree, I would politely remind you that you should disclose all information possible, only redacting the commercially sensitive information. The proper process for choosing any information to redact is to conduct a Public Interest Test. You should publish the PIT as part of your response if one is required.
Having previously made requests to the Local Authority that have had very overdue responses, please can I remind you that you must respond within 20 working days or explain why you are unable to respond within that timeframe? I look forward to your response by Monday 30th January 2023.
Yours faithfully,
James Hamilton
Dear Bromley Council,
This request is now overdue and has not been acknowledged.
Please confirm receipt.
Yours faithfully,
James Hamilton
Hi James Hamilton,
We cannot locate an FOI from this email address or with your name, could you provide more details from the request and we can look into this for you, apologies for the delay.
All the best
Information Coordinator
Information Management team
Hi,
Here is the request:
At the full Council meeting of 12th December, the disposal of the current Council HQ at Stockwell Close and disposal of Community House was discussed.
I request the following:
- All correspondence to the Council in support of the disposal of Community House
- All correspondence to the Council in support of the move from Stockwell Close to a new location
- Any other correspondence in support of the disposal of any other properties in the Council's property portfolios (including but not limited to the operational and commercial portfolios).
To help with answering this request, I am particularly interested in correspondence submitted to the Leader of the Council's office, but my request is not limited to the Leader's office. Please disclose any and all correspondence of this nature submitted to the Council.
Note that I am not interested in any of the commercial details of the disposal or potential purchase of alternative/new property, so I do not believe any part of Section 43 of the FOIA applies. Should you disagree, I would politely remind you that you should disclose all information possible, only redacting the commercially sensitive information. The proper process for choosing any information to redact is to conduct a Public Interest Test. You should publish the PIT as part of your response if one is required.
Having previously made requests to the Local Authority that have had very overdue responses, please can I remind you that you must respond within 20 working days or explain why you are unable to respond within that timeframe? I look forward to your response by Monday 30th January 2023.
Yours sincerely,
James Hamilton
Dear Data Protection (Group Mailbox),
Did you receive my request?
Yours sincerely,
James Hamilton
Dear Mr Hamilton,
Thank you for your email.
I am unable to find any record of your request. Please can you provide me with the full details of your request so that I can investigate this for you.
Kind regards,
Information Coordinator
Digital and IT Services
Dear Data Protection (Group Mailbox),
Your system is not compatible with the What Do They Know website.
Do you have an email address I can contact you on about this query?
Yours sincerely,
James Hamilton
Dear Mr Hamilton,
Thank you for your email.
Please send any queries via the Data Protection Group Mailbox and we will be able to assist you.
Kind regards,
Information Coordinator
Digital and IT Services
James Hamilton left an annotation ()
I eventually got the information - or lack of - from Bromley Council. They had no such letters of support from anyone after all.
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now
James Hamilton left an annotation ()
It turns out Bromley Council use a system called OneTrust and this is (conveniently) not compatible with WDTK. A submitted a further request on this and they said:
"1) The Council uses OneTrust to manage FOI requests.
2) Due to the need for email addresses to be verified by the requestor when submitting a request via OneTrust, the WhatDoTheyKnow site is not compatible with the current case management system in respect of accepting the initial request. Therefore, FOI coordinators are asked to communicate directly with the WDTK email address when triaging and clarifying. However, a response can competently be sent via the system back to What do you Know and published in the normal way."
I am unsure as to what they mean by the final sentence.