Dear Mr Bake,

I apologise for the delay in responding to this request. On a few occasions recently, requests submitted via the What do they Know website have failed to arrive in the Council's freedom of information inbox. We are investigating the causes of this and have managed to identify that the emails are reaching our exchange server, so the problem is clearly one involving the Council's email system. We are continuing to investigate the cause and will look to resolve the problem as soon as possible.

I note however that we have recently responded to a similar request on the What do they Know website as follows :

"The Council do not hold a full list of privately owned commercial
properties in the City and are therefore unable to provide a list of long
term empty properties. We are able to provide details of vacant commercial
properties owned freehold by the Council if you are able to further define
the period you mean by 'long term'.

I trust this clarifies matter for you.

I will however log your request and reply to you formally in due course.

Regards

Matt Ginn
Information Governance Trainer
Brighton&Hove City Council
01273 296625
[email address]

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Dear Mr Blake,

Thank you for your e mail. We do not hold a list of all empty commercial property in the City as per request 1.

In order to be of advice and assistance to you, we do hold information as to empty property the Council owns and also business premises which are claiming an exemption from payment of NNDR / Business Rates.

You may therefore wish to refine and resubmit your request.

I await hearing from you.

Matt Ginn
Information Governance Trainer
Brighton&Hove City Council
01273 296625
[email address]

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Thank you for your request for information and I confirm we shall respond without delay.

Wendy Kassamani
Information Compliance Officer
Brighton & Hove City Council
Tel: 01273 296636

From: Martin Blake

19 February 2013

Dear Brighton & Hove City Council,

I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom
Of Information Act 2000:

(a) addresses of all current empty Commercial properties that
are within Brighton & Hove Council area; and

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

(c) for how long the properties referred to in (a) have been empty;
and

(d) the overall area of each of the properties referred to in (a);
and

(e) the type of property (i.e. OFFICES, SHOP, etc) for each of the
properties referred to in (a); and

(e) any other disposable information you possess about the
properties referred to in (a).

Yours Sincerely,
Martin Blake

Matt Ginn
Information Governance Trainer
Brighton&Hove City Council
01273 296625
[email address]

________________________________________
From: Freedom Of Information
Sent: 02 April 2013 10:59
To: Matthew Ginn
Cc: Peter Bode
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Empty Commercial properties

Hi Matt

Can I point out that this request has never been logged and at this point I am totally at a loss as to exactly what that request is. Perhaps you could forward the exact request to me, I will then log it, acknowledge it and forward it in the usual manner to our Empty Property team and other teams if required.

I would prefer not to involve Graham at this point, particularly since the request is not logged and I feel it would just create more confusion.

Thanks.

Wendy Kassamani
Information Compliance Officer
Brighton & Hove City Council
Tel: 01273 296636

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Regarding your request for information  under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000:  Ref:  foi/291/13

 

I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom

Of Information Act 2000:

 

(a) addresses of all current empty Commercial properties that

are within Brighton & Hove Council area; and

 

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

and

 

(c) for how long the properties referred to in (a) have been empty;

and

 

(d) the overall area of each of the properties referred to in (a);

and

 

(e) the type of property (i.e. OFFICES, SHOP, etc) for each of the

properties referred to in (a); and

 

(e) any other disposable information you possess about the

properties referred to in (a).

 

Yours Sincerely,

Martin Blake”

 

 

Please find set out below the information in response to the above
request:

 

“See attachment

 

Where a property belongs to an individual, both the individual’s name and
the property address are considered to be personal data and exempt from
disclosure.

 

Regarding part d, we do not hold details of a property’s area on our
system.  This information is available on the Valuation Office Agency
website ([1]www.2010.voa.gov.uk/rli/)”

 

 

 

 

Should you have any queries concerning this request please contact me,
remembering to quote the reference number shown above.

 

If you are not satisfied how your request has been handled, you can
appeal. Please write to:

 

Freedom of Information Appeals

Brighton & Hove City Council

ICT Room lst Floor

Hove Town Hall

Norton Road

Hove BN3 4AH

[2][email address]

 

If you are still not satisfied after your complaint has been investigated,
you can escalate your complaint to the Information Commissioners Office. 
The contact details are:

The Information Commissioners Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone number: 01625 545745

e-mail: [3][email address]

Website: [4]www.dataprotection.gov.uk

 

If you have any queries regarding this process, please contact me via the
contact details below.

 

 

Wendy Kassamani

Information Compliance Officer

Brighton & Hove City Council

Hove Town Hall

Norton Road

Hove, BN3 4AH

[5][email address]

 

 

Re-use of Public Sector Information and Copyright Statement

Where information has been supplied, you are advised that the copyright in
that material is owned by Brighton & Hove City Council and/or its
contractor(s) unless otherwise stated.  The supply of documents under the
Freedom of Information Act does not give the recipient an automatic right
to re-use those documents in a way that would infringe copyright, for
example, by making multiple copies, publishing and issuing copies to the
public.

Brief extracts of the material can be reproduced under the “fair dealing”
provisions of the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1998 (S.29 and S.30)
for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study,
criticism, review and news reporting.

 

Authorisation to re-use copyright material not owned by Brighton & Hove
City Council and/or its contractor(s) should be sought from the copyright
holders concerned. If you are considering re-using the information
disclosed to you through this request, for any purpose outside of what
could be considered for personal use, then you are required under the
Public Sector Re-use of Information Regulations 2005 to make an
Application for Re-use to the organisation from which you have requested
the information.  Applications for Re-Use should be directed to Mr Peter
Bode at the address above.

 

 

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.2010.voa.gov.uk/rli/
http://www.2010.voa.gov.uk/rli/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/
http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/
5. mailto:[email address]