Empty Commercial Properties with RV in excess of £45,000
Dear Common Council of the City of London,
Please can you provide me with the following information under the Freedom Of Information Act 2000:-
(a) hereditament addresses and rateable value of empty Commercial properties with a current rateable value in excess of £45,000 that are within Common Council of the City of London area;
and
(b) the names and addresses of the ratepayers of those properties referred to in (a)
Yours faithfully,
Natalie Davis
Dear Ms Davis,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST
The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for
information of 25 May 2011.
Public authorities are required to respond to requests within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days beginning from the first working
day after they receive a request. The Act does not always require public
authorities to disclose the information which they hold.
The FOIA applies to the CoL as a local authority, police authority and
port health authority. The CoL is the local and police authority for the
"Square Mile", ie the historic City of London, and not for London as a
whole. Please see the following link to a map on the CoL's website, which
shows the area covered:
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/maps/boundary_map.htm.
Yours sincerely,
Assistant Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 3244
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
Dear Ms Davis,
I write further to your request for information of 25^th May 2011 and the
City's reply of 26^th May.
In your request you asked for:
"a) hereditament addresses and rateable value of empty Commercial
properties with a current rateable value in excess of £45,000 that are
within Common Council of the City of London area; and
(b) the names and addresses of the ratepayers of those properties referred
to in (a)
This response acts as a partial refusal notice.
There is an exemption under Section 31(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) which we consider applies partly to this request. This section
provides that information is exempt from disclosure if such disclosure
would prejudice the "prevention or detection of crime". We consider that
the disclosure of information about whether or not properties are empty
puts those properties at risk from crime, as an empty property is more
likely to be the target of, and vulnerable to, crime than is an occupied
property. Hence we consider that disclosure presents a likely prejudice to
the prevention and detection of crime.
This exemption is subject to the public interest test. With regard to
identifying empty properties, it could be considered to be in the public
interest to disclose such information in order to assist, for example, in
encouraging the use of empty properties. The Information Tribunal
considered this in 2007 and paragraph 86 of the decision states:
".....Our conclusion on the public interest test is that, insofar as the
properties are owned by individuals, the public interest in maintaining
the exemption does outweigh the public interest in disclosure. The impact
of crime on individuals as an inherent part of the public interest in this
circumstance is a significant factor and leads to the exemption
outweighing the public interest in disclosure in our view. However, for
those properties that are owned by those other than individuals, including
public authorities, our conclusion is that it [the security
considerations, ie the section 31 law enforcement exemption] does not, and
the public interest is in favour of disclosure. This is because the impact
of crime on an individual is not present and this inherent aspect of the
public interest in preventing crime is therefore absent and changes the
analysis of the balance."
(Tribunal Ref: EA/2006/0060&0066. Decision promulgated 10 May 2007)
Following the above decision, therefore, we apply the Section 31 exemption
to disclosure about empty properties owned by individuals. For rating
purposes the owners are the ratepayers, ie. persons entitled to
possession.
Attached is a list of empty commercial properties in the City, where the
rateable value exceeds £45,000 excluding those where the ratepayer is
an individual or individuals. The list is derived from the City's rating
records and contains only property subject to non-domestic rates.
<<FOIAEmptyDavisJune11.xls>>
Please note that the occupation of property is constantly changing with
some premises being vacated, others occupied and alterations to the rating
list being made by the Valuation Office Agency. The list was produced in
January 2011 and is the most recent available. It is as accurate as
possible but inevitably there are always some amendments pending.
If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has managed your
enquiry under the FOIA, please make your complaint in writing to email
address: [email address]. For a link to the CoL's FOI
complaints procedure, please visit the following page:
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which is located the
FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's FOI Complaints
Procedure, you are still dissatisfied, you may request the Information
Commissioner to investigate. Please contact: Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Tel: (01625)
545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.
The FOIA applies to the City of London as a local authority, police
authority and port health authority.
The City of London holds the copyright in this email. The supply of it
does not give a right to re-use it in a way that would infringe that
copyright, for example, by making copies, publishing and issuing copies to
the public or to any other person. Brief extracts of any of the material
may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of
research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and
news reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the copyright owner.
Yours sincerely,
Assistant Information Officer
City of London
Town Clerk's Department
020 7332 3244
[3][Common Council of the City of London request email]
[4]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
______________________________________________
From: COL - EB - Information Officer
Sent: 26 May 2011 16:18
To: '[FOI #72730 email]'
Subject: FOI RFI: Davis, wef 26 May 2011 - Acknowledgement
Dear Ms Davis,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST
The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for
information of 25 May 2011.
Public authorities are required to respond to requests within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days beginning from the first working
day after they receive a request. The Act does not always require public
authorities to disclose the information which they hold.
The FOIA applies to the CoL as a local authority, police authority and
port health authority. The CoL is the local and police authority for the
"Square Mile", ie the historic City of London, and not for London as a
whole. Please see the following link to a map on the CoL's website, which
shows the area covered:
[5]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/maps/boundary_map.htm.
Yours sincerely,
Assistant Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 3244
[6]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
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