Equality Impact Assessment for Mitcham (also known as Bishopsford Road) bridge wall removal and new design

The request was partially successful.

Dear Merton Borough Council,

Please can you provide me with any draft or final Equality Impact Assessments for the Planning Committee decision on 22/10/20 to remove the Mitcham bridge (also known as Bishopsford Road bridge) wall and for the design of the new bridge.

Please can the date of any Equality Impact Assessments be made clear. If there are several versions of any Equality Impact Assessment, please can these all be provided and dated.

Please can you provide me with information written by officers and Members on potential equality implications on protected groups under the Equality Act 2010 from the decision to remove the Mitcham bridge wall and for the design of the new bridge from 1 January 2020 until today. Please can the information be dated.

Yours faithfully,

Ms Gordon

foi, Merton Borough Council

Thank you for your email message. We aim to respond to all requests under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 within 20 working days. More information about the way we
deal with information requests is on our web site at
[1]www.merton.gov.uk/foi
 
Information Governance Team
London Borough of Merton.
020 8545 4634
 
 
 

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1. http://www.merton.gov.uk/foi

foi, Merton Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mrs Gordon

Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations
2004 Information request F14755

 

We have now considered your information request as set out below. 

 

You asked:

 

Please can you provide me with any draft or final Equality Impact
Assessments for the Planning Committee decision on 22/10/20 to remove the
Mitcham bridge (also known as Bishopsford Road bridge) wall and for the
design of the new bridge.

Please can the date of any Equality Impact Assessments be made clear. If
there are several versions of any Equality Impact Assessment, please can
these all be provided and dated.

Please can you provide me with information written by officers and Members
on potential equality implications on protected groups under the Equality
Act 2010 from the decision to remove the Mitcham bridge wall and for the
design of the new bridge from 1 January 2020 until today. Please can the
information be dated.

Answer:

The Equality Impact Assessment for the design of Bishopsford Bridge is
attached to this email as appendix B. It was started in July 2020 and
finished in early August 2020. I have made an update as part of answering
this request to fix a broken weblink and I have dated this within the
document. There was no equality impact assessment carried out solely for
the replacement of the wall with railings.

 

Appendix A attached to this email contains information written by officers
and Members on potential equality implications on protected groups under
the Equality Act 2010 for the design of the new Mitcham bridge between the
given date parameters.

 

However, I cannot guarantee that I have been able to ensure that all
information written by officers and councillors on “potential equality
information on protected groups” is picked up simply because we don’t
always use the words “protected groups” or the names used in the Equality
Act 2010 when discussing these issues.

 

As well as searching for text on all the groups protected under the
Equality Act 2010, I have also searched for a number of associated terms
including; “disabilities”, “DDA”, “disability discrimination act”, “young
people”, “visually impaired”, “older people”, “Design Manuel for Roads and
Bridges” “inclusive mobility” (where this relates to the Dept of Transport
guidance) when gathering this information.

 

It will not be possible to guarantee that we can provide the all of
information you have requested within the date parameters you have given
as the there is a very diverse range of words and phrases that could have
been used that relate to groups protected under the Equality Act 2010.

 

Please let me know if you would like to refine your search further.

 

Please note that this response does not include information written by
officers and Members on potential equality implications on protected
groups under the Equality Act 2010 for the design of the new bridge. That
is part of the planning application process and so is available online,
including the officer’s report:

 

[1]https://planning.merton.gov.uk/MVM/Onlin...

 

Please be aware that the names of individuals have been redacted under
Section 40(2) of the FOI Act as this is personal information.

 

If you have any queries or concerns about this please contact me.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request or wish to
appeal against the decision to exempt any part of your request, you should
request an Internal Review at [2][Merton Borough Council request email] or write in to Freedom
of Information team, Merton Council, Civic Centre, Morden, SM4 5DX.

 

If you escalate to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) without
following the council’s internal review process, the ICO will refer you
back to the council to enable the correct process to be followed.

 

You can also appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
[3]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/offi...

 

There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Governance Officer

 

Information Governance Team

Merton Council

 

 

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