Details of empty commercial properties

The request was refused by Flintshire County Council.

Natalie Davis

Dear Sir or Madam

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 that are within Flintshire Council area; and

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

Yours faithfully

Natalie Davis

Flintshire County Council

Ms Natalie Davis Eich Cyf/Your Ref
Ein Cyf/Our Ref R001656
Dyddiad/Date 08/05/2009
Gofynner am/Ask for GGwen Smith
Rhif Union/Direct Dial 01352 702429

Dear Ms Davis

Thank you for your request for information which is acknowledged.

Your request has been forwarded to the Freedom of Information Act Contact
Officer for the Finance Division, Phil Wilson, to process and this Officer
will be in contact with you.

Yours sincerely

Gwen Smith

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Opinions advice, conclusions and other information in this

message that do not relate to the official business of

Flintshire County Council shall be understood as neither

given nor endorsed by it or on its behalf, and consequently

Flintshire County Council shall bear no responsibility

whatsoever in respect thereof.

Deellir na fydd unrhyw safbwyntiau, na chynghorion, na

chasgliadau nac unrhyw wybodaeth arall yn y neges hon,

nad ydynt yn berthnasol i waith swyddogol

Cyngor Sir y Fflint, yn cael eu cynnig na'u cadarnhau ganddo

nac ar ei ran, ac felly ni fydd Cyngor Sir y Fflint yn derbyn

unrhyw gyfrifoldeb am y rhannau hynny o'r neges.

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Flintshire County Council

1 Attachment

Ms Natalie Davis Eich Cyf/Your Ref



Ein Cyf/Our Ref R001656







Dyddiad/Date 22/05/2009


Gofynner am/Ask for Mr. P. Wilson


Rhif Union/Direct Dial 01352 702272




Dear Ms Davis

Your Freedom of Information Request of the 8 May

I refer to your above request and my initial acknowledgement of it. In
your request you asked to be provided with the following information.

(a) Addresses and rateable values of empty commercial properties that are
within Flintshire Council area and
(b) The names of the owners of those properties referred to in (a).

On your request there was a disclaimer that referred to the reply being
published on the Internet and to "our privacy and copyright policies". The
Council in this response is not agreeing to the publication of it on the
Internet or to your privacy and copyright policies.

The contents of this communication and the enclosed documents are subject
to copyright protection. It has been sent to you for your information and
you may use it for any non-commercial research you may be doing. Its
contents can also be used for the purposes of news reporting. Any other
re-use, for example, commercial publication or publication on a website,
requires the permission of this Council. If you wish to re-use this
information please contact us, letting us know how you wish to re-use it
and what the intended audience will be so that we can consider your
request. This information should be sent to: The Records Manager,
Flintshire County Council, County Hall, Mold, Flintshire CH7 6NB, or
[email address]

I can confirm that Council has the information that you are requesting.
The information you have requested is however, being denied under the
exemptions contained in Sections 31 and 40 of the Freedom of Information
Act. Section 31 (1) (a) provides that information is exempt information if
its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or
detection of crime. I have decided that providing the information you have
requested would be likely to prejudice the prevention of crime. Firstly,
supplying this information would increase the risk of criminal damage to
the empty premises identified. Secondly, it would facilitate the use of
such addresses for the purposes of fraud. In considering the balance of
public interest, whilst I can see there is some public interest in
transparency, in my view this is outweighed by the prejudice that would be
caused to the prevention of crime.

Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption in
relation to personal data where the disclosure of such personal data would
contravene the Data Protection principles. These Data Protection
principles are set out in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998.
Disclosure of this information would be contrary to the first Data
Protection principle that personal data should be processed fairly and
lawfully. Those individuals who have provided the information you are
seeking to the Council have not agreed to its disclosure to members of the
public and such disclosure would increase resistance from individuals in
providing such information in the future. Disclosure of the information to
yourself would also be a breach to the second Data Protection principle as
the information was obtained to enable the Council to determine the correct
liability to business rates and for the purposes of administering business
rates accounts.

Whilst I hope you can accept the reasons for my decision, in case that is
not the case I attach a copy of the Council's complaints procedure relating
to Freedom of Information requests. By virtue of Section 50 of the Freedom
of Information Act, any person my apply to the Information Commissioner for
a decision whether, in any specified respect, a request for information
they have made has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of
the Act.

Yours sincerely,

Phil Wilson
Corporate Finance Manager

(See attached file: Complaints Procedure Mar 09.doc)

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Opinions advice, conclusions and other information in this
message that do not relate to the official business of
Flintshire County Council shall be understood as neither
given nor endorsed by it or on its behalf, and consequently
Flintshire County Council shall bear no responsibility
whatsoever in respect thereof.
Deellir na fydd unrhyw safbwyntiau, na chynghorion, na
chasgliadau nac unrhyw wybodaeth arall yn y neges hon,
nad ydynt yn berthnasol i waith swyddogol
Cyngor Sir y Fflint, yn cael eu cynnig na'u cadarnhau ganddo
nac ar ei ran, ac felly ni fydd Cyngor Sir y Fflint yn derbyn
unrhyw gyfrifoldeb am y rhannau hynny o'r neges.
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