Ealing Council's relationships with developers
Dear Ealing Borough Council,
In Cllr Mason's open letter open letter (https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downl...) to Angela Fonso and local campaign group Clean Air for Southall and Hayes (CASH) dated 12 July 2021, Cllr Mason pledged that "I am determined to ensure that the Council’s future dealings with developers are transparent, arms-length and do not give rise to concerns that it is privileging the relationship with developers above that with residents."
Recent Berkeley Group marketing material, hand delivered, shows that Southall councillor Surinder Jassal and council officer Evelyn Gloyn (Ealing's Community Engagement Manager) are members of Berkeley Group's new "community engagement" steering group. This is a clear conflict of interest with the health and wellbeing of residents who Cllr Jassal is elected to represent, and does not appear on Cllr Jassal's declaration of interests on the council website (https://ealing.moderngov.co.uk/mgListDec...). In the accompanying photograph, Cllr Jassal and Evelyn Gloyn are literally standing shoulder to shoulder with Berkeley Group, not at "arms-length", as Cllr Mason pledged two years ago.
Can you tell me:
1) the Ealing Council policy for councillors, officers, Mayor, to ensure future dealings with developers are transparent, arms-length and do not give rise to concerns that it is privileging the relationship with developers above that with residents, as Cllr Mason pledged?
2) the action Ealing Council will take to prevent councillors, officers, Mayor privileging the relationship with developers above that with residents, and publicly disengaging from Berkeley Group's profit-driven marketing schemes dressed up as "community engagement"?
Yours faithfully,
David Marsden
Request acknowledgement
Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2000/Environmental Information
Regulations (EIR) 2004.
Our reference: 23-0821
Dear David Marsden,
Thank you for your request for information.
Your request will be dealt with under the terms of the relevant
legislation.
Requests will be answered within Twenty working days
If we require further information to respond to your request, we will ask
for clarification via the contact details provided.
If you have any queries about your request please contact us via
[1][Ealing Borough Council request email] quoting your reference number quoted above.
Yours sincerely,
Stuart O’Brien (he/him)
Information Governance Officer
( 020 8825 8367
+ London Borough of Ealing, Perceval House 3/NE, 14-16 Uxbridge Road,
Ealing, London, W5 2HL
[2]Graphical user interface, application, website Description
automatically generated
From: David Marsden <[FOI #1000456 email]>
Sent: Thursday, July 6, 2023 12:36 PM
To: foirequests <[Ealing Borough Council request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Ealing Council's relationships
with developers
WARNING : This Message has originated from outside your organization, If
you do not trust this email please either delete or follow the guidance on
OneSpace.
Dear Ealing Borough Council,
In Cllr Mason's open letter open letter
([3]https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downl...)
to Angela Fonso and local campaign group Clean Air for Southall and Hayes
(CASH) dated 12 July 2021, Cllr Mason pledged that "I am determined to
ensure that the Council’s future dealings with developers are transparent,
arms-length and do not give rise to concerns that it is privileging the
relationship with developers above that with residents."
Recent Berkeley Group marketing material, hand delivered, shows that
Southall councillor Surinder Jassal and council officer Evelyn Gloyn
(Ealing's Community Engagement Manager) are members of Berkeley Group's
new "community engagement" steering group. This is a clear conflict of
interest with the health and wellbeing of residents who Cllr Jassal is
elected to represent, and does not appear on Cllr Jassal's declaration of
interests on the council website
([4]https://ealing.moderngov.co.uk/mgListDec...).
In the accompanying photograph, Cllr Jassal and Evelyn Gloyn are literally
standing shoulder to shoulder with Berkeley Group, not at "arms-length",
as Cllr Mason pledged two years ago.
Can you tell me:
1) the Ealing Council policy for councillors, officers, Mayor, to ensure
future dealings with developers are transparent, arms-length and do not
give rise to concerns that it is privileging the relationship with
developers above that with residents, as Cllr Mason pledged?
2) the action Ealing Council will take to prevent councillors, officers,
Mayor privileging the relationship with developers above that with
residents, and publicly disengaging from Berkeley Group's profit-driven
marketing schemes dressed up as "community engagement"?
Yours faithfully,
David Marsden
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[5][FOI #1000456 email]
Is [6][Ealing Borough Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of
Information requests to Ealing Borough Council? If so, please contact us
using this form:
[7]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[8]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[9]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
[10]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
Dear David Marsden,
Please find attached response to your recent Freedom of Information
request.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you can request
an internal review.
Details of the Freedom of Information complaints process can be found at:
[1]http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200640/fre...
Your request for an internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of your receipt of this response. Any such request received
after this time will only be considered at our discretion.
If you remain dissatisfied by the outcome of the Internal Review you have
the right to submit your complaint to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Kind Regards
Kam Ubhi (she/her)
Information Governance Officer
020 8825 8367
London Borough of Ealing, Perceval House 5/SE/12, 14-16 Uxbridge Road,
Ealing, London, W5 2HL
[2]Graphical user interface, application, website Description
automatically generated
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200640/fre...
Dear Ealing Borough Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ealing Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Ealing Council's relationships with developers'.
You say that you "have gone above and beyond statutory requirements when it comes to transparency in Planning, in that we now have a public register of Members’ meetings with developers which can be found at the bottom of each member’s declaration of interest on the website. This was introduced in May 2023 so there may not be anything declared on any members’ forms yet. However, this is an indication of the Council’s commitment to transparency around the relationship with developers."
In other words, plain English perhaps, it took two years to put in place any formal procedure to uphold the Leader's stated aims, and there is literally nothing to see to evidence that councillors are following the procedure, or will do. And the fact that there is nothing to see to evidence your claims is, you claim, an indication of the council's commitment to transparency?
Is Berkeley Group (a developer) a proscribed organisation, or is it OK for councillors, to use their valuable time to promote, give positive publicity to, and validate Berkeley's questionable profit-driven business activities? Yes, or no?
Will the council ensure that "dealings with developers are transparent, arms-length and do not give rise to concerns that it is privileging the relationship with developers above that with residents," or not? Yes or no?
Has Cllr Jassall declared her membership of Berkeley Group's "Community Engagement Steering Group", or not? Yes or no?
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...
Yours faithfully,
David Marsden
Dear David Marsden,
As the request is not the same as the original request it is not regarded
as an internal review. Therefore, it has been logged as a new request.
Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2000 / Environmental Information
Regulations (EIR) 2004.
Thank you for your information request which is being dealt with under the
terms of the relevant legislation.
Your request has been logged as: 23-0909.
FOI and EIR requests have a statutory compliance time of twenty working
days.
If you have any queries about this request please contact us via
[1][Ealing Borough Council request email] quoting the reference number quoted above.
Yours sincerely,
Kam Ubhi (she/her)
Information Governance Officer
020 8825 8367
London Borough of Ealing, Perceval House 5/SE/12, 14-16 Uxbridge Road,
Ealing, London, W5 2HL
[2]Graphical user interface, application, website Description
automatically generated
From: David Marsden <[FOI #1000456 email]>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2023 11:00 AM
To: foirequests <[Ealing Borough Council request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Ealing
Council's relationships with developers
WARNING : This Message has originated from outside your organization, If
you do not trust this email please either delete or follow the guidance on
OneSpace.
Dear Ealing Borough Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ealing Borough Council's
handling of my FOI request 'Ealing Council's relationships with
developers'.
You say that you "have gone above and beyond statutory requirements when
it comes to transparency in Planning, in that we now have a public
register of Members’ meetings with developers which can be found at the
bottom of each member’s declaration of interest on the website. This was
introduced in May 2023 so there may not be anything declared on any
members’ forms yet. However, this is an indication of the Council’s
commitment to transparency around the relationship with developers."
In other words, plain English perhaps, it took two years to put in place
any formal procedure to uphold the Leader's stated aims, and there is
literally nothing to see to evidence that councillors are following the
procedure, or will do. And the fact that there is nothing to see to
evidence your claims is, you claim, an indication of the council's
commitment to transparency?
Is Berkeley Group (a developer) a proscribed organisation, or is it OK for
councillors, to use their valuable time to promote, give positive
publicity to, and validate Berkeley's questionable profit-driven business
activities? Yes, or no?
Will the council ensure that "dealings with developers are transparent,
arms-length and do not give rise to concerns that it is privileging the
relationship with developers above that with residents," or not? Yes or
no?
Has Cllr Jassall declared her membership of Berkeley Group's "Community
Engagement Steering Group", or not? Yes or no?
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on
the Internet at this address:
[3]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...
Yours faithfully,
David Marsden
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[4][FOI #1000456 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[5]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[6]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
[7]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
Our ref: 23-0820/23-0821
Dear David Marsden,
Please find attached our completed response to your Internal Review
request.
If you remain dissatisfied by the outcome of the Internal Review you have
the right to submit your complaint to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Kind Regards
Lorraine Cox (She/her)
Corporate Information Governance Manager
( 020 8825 8367
+ London Borough of Ealing, Perceval House 3/NE, 14-16 Uxbridge Road,
Ealing, London, W5 2HL
[1]Graphical user interface, application, website Description
automatically generated
References
Visible links
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