Details of empty commercial properties with a rateable value between £18,000 & £20,000.

The request was refused by Medway Council.

Dear Medway Council,

Please can you provide me with the following information under the
Freedom Of Information Act 2000:-

(a) addresses and rateable values of empty Commercial properties with a current rateable value between £18,000 and £20,000 that are within Medway Council area; and

(b) the names and addresses of the owners of those properties referred to in (a)

Yours faithfully,

Natalie Davis

poulson, jon, Medway Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Davis

Request for Information Reference Number: RFI/3404

I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information held by the
Council under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

The Council has now identified the information requested and is
considering withholding some or all of the information under one or more
of the exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000. As part
of this consideration the Council must apply a public interest test. This
is where the Council needs to balance the public interest in withholding
the information against the public interest in making it available.

The consideration of the public interest test will cause a delay and the
Council will not be able to deal with your request within the usual 20
working days. We estimate that we will let you have a response by 15
June.

If you are unhappy with the decision we have made or wish to complain
about any other issue regarding the Freedom of Information Act 2000 please
see the attached handout `Request for Information Complaints Procedures'.

For further information on the Freedom of Information 2000, the exemptions
and how requests are dealt with at Medway Council you can log onto the
website at www.medway.gov.uk/freedomofinformation.

Yours sincerely.

Jon Poulson

Jon Poulson IRRV (Hons)

Revenues and Benefits Contract Manager

Business Support Department

Medway Council

Gun Wharf

Chatham

Kent

ME4 4TR

Tel No 01634 333700

E-mail [email address]

Natalie Davis

Dear poulson, jon,

I note we are yet to have a response to our enquiry under the Freedom of Information Act sent on 29/04/10.

Yours sincerely,

Natalie Davis

poulson, jon, Medway Council

I am out of the office until Monday 19th July. If the matter is urgent
please contact the following:-

For Ctax & NNDR: [email address]
For Benefits: [email address]

THANK YOU

poulson, jon, Medway Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Davis,

Further to my e-mail dated 25 May 2010, I can confirm that the Council has
now considered the Public Interest test as required under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA), for your request:

Please can you provide me with the following information under the Freedom
Of Information Act 2000:- (a) addresses and rateable values of empty
Commercial properties with a current rateable value between £18,000 and
£20,000 that are within Medway Council area; and (b) the names and
addresses of the owners of those properties referred to in (a)

It is the Monitoring Officer's opinion that the information should not be
released as the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the
public interest in disclosure.

Some of the information has been withheld under:

o Section 31(1)(a) of the FOIA Information, which if released would, or
would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime,
and
o Section 40(2) Information, which forms third party personal data.

Section 31(1)(a) is both a prejudice based and qualified exemption. The
Council considers that disclosing the information would mean that making
the details you have requested freely available would lead to a
significant increase in the risk of crime.

This therefore means that there would be real prejudice to the prevention
or detection of crime, in that a list of the addresses of empty properties
would identify vulnerable properties to potential squatters and associated
crime. This includes the possibility of anti social behaviour, drug
dealing, criminal damage, arson and the stripping of empty properties.

In applying section 40(2), the Council must consider the eight Data
Protection Principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), and whether
disclosure of third party personal data would breach any of these
Principles.

Having looked into your request, I can confirm that the Council has
confirmed that:

(i) Some of the information requested forms personal data as defined
within the DPA; and

(ii) The disclosure would contravene one of the Data Protection Principles
of the DPA.

The release of the requested information would contravene the First Data
Protection Principle - Personal data shall be processed fairly and
lawfully and, in particular, shall not be processed unless at least one of
the conditions in Schedule 2 of the DPA is met.

None of the conditions in Schedule 2 are, in the opinion of the Council,
met and so release would contravene the First Data Protection Principle.
In particular, the Council has considered whether release of the data
could be justified in reliance on paragraph 6(1) of Schedule 2:

The processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests
pursued by the data controller or by the third party or parties to whom
the data are disclosed, except where the processing is unwarranted in any
particular case by reason of prejudice to the rights and freedoms or
legitimate interests of the data subject.

However, the Council considers that the release is unwarranted by reason
of prejudice to the legitimate interests of the data subjects as owners of
particular properties,

The Council has withheld the information as:

o It is considered to be outside the reasonable expectations of property
owners that their details and their properties would be released into
the public domain, and that to do so would be a breach of the First
Data Protection Principle as set out in the Data Protection Act 1998;
and
o There is a real risk of criminal activity occurring on these
properties (as above).

If you are unhappy with the information we have provided or wish to
complain about any other issue regarding the Freedom of Information Act
2000 please see the attached handout `Request for Information Complaints
Procedures'.

For further information on the Freedom of Information 2000, the exemptions
and how requests are dealt with, you can log onto the Medway Council
website at [1]www.medway.gov.uk/freedomofinformation.

Yours sincerely

Jon Poulson

Revenues & Benefits Contract Manager

Jon Poulson IRRV (Hons)

Revenues and Benefits Contract Manager

Business Support Department

Medway Council

Gun Wharf

Chatham

Kent

ME4 4TR

Tel No 01634 333700

E-mail [email address]

References

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1. http://www.medway.gov.uk/freedomofinform...