FFNI Projects

The request was successful.

Dear Newry, Mourne and Down District Council,

I request the following information:

1. Following NMD Council's ratification of the recommendation to approve up to £100,000 NI ratepayers money on behalf of the FFNI Consortium, what further approvals of the project will NMD/FFNI be seeking from participating councils? Please include in your response the specific matters to be authorised (e.g. cost, quality of risk assessment etc), anticipated timescales, and the specific committee or body within participating councils which will be required to provide approval.

2. What are the implications for the project in the that one or more participating councils refuse to provide the necessary authorisations?

3. Please provide contracts, service level agreements or any other relevant documentation which sets out the roles, responsibilities and expectations of lead and participating councils in FFNI.

4. How will potential "testbed" areas be identified?

5. What community consultation processes will take place in order to obtain the informed consent of communities for projects which will affect them?

6. Will individual councils have the final say on whether or not a 5G project will take place within their communities? If not, please advise who will have final decision-making powers and provide documentary evidence to support this.

Yours faithfully,

Ashleigh Coleman

Rooney, Ruth, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council

Dear Ms Coleman

 

I refer to the above and write further to your request for information
dated 7 November 2019.

 

You have requested information in relation to FFNI projects.

 

As your request relates to information which Council may hold about a
matter affecting land and the environment your request will be processed
in accordance with the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Accordingly, you will receive the information you have requested within 20
working days of the date of receipt of your request by the Council unless
the Council does not hold the information or there is a reason to withhold
all or part of the information requested.  I will write to you in any
event. 

 

I hope to respond to you no later than 5 December 2019.

 

For further information on the Environmental Information Regulations I
would direct you to the website of the Information Commissioner's Office,
https://ico.org.uk/

 

If you wish to discuss the above please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Ruth Rooney
Information Officer

Oifig Dhún Pádraig

Downpatrick Office

Downshire Civic Centre

Downshire Estate, Ardglass Road

Downpatrick BT30 6GQ

Council: 0300 013 2233

Planning: 0300 200 7830

Ext 2106

[1]www.newrymournedown.org

[2]www.facebook.com/nmdcouncil

[3]www.twitter.com/nmdcouncil

 

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above named. As this e-mail may contain confidential or legally privileged
information, if you are not, or suspect that you are not, the above named,
or the person responsible for delivering the message to the above named,
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of this e-mail may not be disclosed to, nor used by, anyone other than the
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arising from any third party acting, or refraining from acting, on such
information. Opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in such
messages are not given or endorsed by the Council, unless otherwise
indicated in writing by an authorised representative independent of such
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attachment is virus free or has not been intercepted and amended. The
Council undertakes monitoring of both incoming and outgoing e-mails. You
should therefore be aware that if you send an e-mail to a person within
the Council it may be subject to any monitoring deemed necessary by the
organisation. As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose
this e-mail (or any response to it) under UK Data Protection and Freedom
of Information legislation, unless the information in it is covered by an
exemption.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.newrymournedown.org/
2. http://www.facebook.com/nmdcouncil
3. http://www.twitter.com/nmdcouncil

Rooney, Ruth, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Coleman

 

I refer to the above and write further to my email dated 14 November 2019.

 

Under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 you have requested
information from Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.  Your request
has been processed in accordance with the Environmental Information
Regulations and, accordingly, please see the response below.

 

1. Following NMD Council's ratification of the recommendation to approve
up to £100,000 NI ratepayers money on behalf of the FFNI Consortium, what
further approvals of the project will NMD/FFNI be seeking from
participating councils? Please include in your response the specific
matters to be authorised (e.g. cost, quality of risk assessment etc),
anticipated timescales, and the specific committee or body within
participating councils which will be required to provide approval.

 

Response: Committee / Full Council approval requested from each Council to
allocate up to £8k to develop 5G report to highlight risks and
opportunities seeking guidance from OFCOM, DCMS and PHE and prepare
material for any future funding. FFNI has no timescales yet as there
currently is no funding available for 5G.

NMD Council’s allocation is £8k.

 

2. What are the implications for the project in the that one or more
participating councils refuse to provide the necessary authorisations?

Response: Those Councils will not be involved in the project and the
project will be scaled back for those that are interested should a 5g
funding call open.

 

3. Please provide contracts, service level agreements or any other
relevant documentation which sets out the roles, responsibilities and
expectations of lead and participating councils in FFNI.  
Response: Please see FFNI Consortium Agreement attached. This relates
primarily to the LFFN "Full Fibre Project". The 5G testbeds project is a
new potential project subject to obtaining funding.

 

4. How will potential "testbed" areas be identified?

Response: At this point in time FFNI have no 5G funding so have not
selected testbeds. These will be identified at a later date subject to use
cases and successful award of funding.

 

5. What community consultation processes will take place in order to
obtain the informed consent of communities for projects which will affect
them?

Response: If funding is secured this will be dictated by the project and
the required use cases to determine what consultation processes will be
effective.

 

6. Will individual councils have the final say on whether or not a 5G
project will take place within their communities? If not, please advise
who will have final decision-making powers and provide documentary
evidence to support this.

Response: Yes

 

If you wish to discuss the above or require clarification on any matter,
please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

I trust this is of assistance.  However, should you be unhappy with our
response in this matter you may request an Internal Review of our response
by 4 February 2020.  You can contact Ms Edel Cosgrove, Head of Compliance
([email address]) in that regard.

In the event you are unhappy with the outcome of any Internal Review
conducted by the Council you may apply to the Information Commissioner's
Office (ICO) for a review of our response. Please note that the ICO
generally expects Internal Reviews to be completed prior to reviewing the
decisions of public bodies.  For further information in relation to
Environmental Information Regulations I would direct you to the website of
the Information Commissioner at: [1]www.ico.org.uk.

Kind regards

 

 

Ruth Rooney
Information Officer

Oifig Dhún Pádraig

Downpatrick Office

Downshire Civic Centre

Downshire Estate, Ardglass Road

Downpatrick BT30 6GQ

Council: 0300 013 2233

Planning: 0300 200 7830

Ext 2106

[2]www.newrymournedown.org

[3]www.facebook.com/nmdcouncil

[4]www.twitter.com/nmdcouncil

 

Save paper - think before you print!

 

This e-mail, its contents and any attachments are intended only for the
above named. As this e-mail may contain confidential or legally privileged
information, if you are not, or suspect that you are not, the above named,
or the person responsible for delivering the message to the above named,
delete or destroy the email and any attachments immediately. The contents
of this e-mail may not be disclosed to, nor used by, anyone other than the
above named. We will not accept any liability (in negligence or otherwise)
arising from any third party acting, or refraining from acting, on such
information. Opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in such
messages are not given or endorsed by the Council, unless otherwise
indicated in writing by an authorised representative independent of such
messages. Please note that we cannot guarantee that this message or any
attachment is virus free or has not been intercepted and amended. The
Council undertakes monitoring of both incoming and outgoing e-mails. You
should therefore be aware that if you send an e-mail to a person within
the Council it may be subject to any monitoring deemed necessary by the
organisation. As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose
this e-mail (or any response to it) under UK Data Protection and Freedom
of Information legislation, unless the information in it is covered by an
exemption.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
2. http://www.newrymournedown.org/
3. http://www.facebook.com/nmdcouncil
4. http://www.twitter.com/nmdcouncil