Dear Mr Kefford,

Information enquiry reference EIR-20-0782.

Thank you for your recent request for information, which we received on 10
August 2020. 

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is on
or before 07 September 2020.

While Aberdeen City Council are prioritising resources to support
vulnerable citizens and essential services, we remain committed to provide
responses to requests as soon as we can.

Please refer to [1]FOISA reviews & appeals and [2]Your Data for more
information about your rights under the Freedom of Information Scotland
Act (FOISA).

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries in the
meantime.

Yours sincerely,

[3]ACC_Crest_for Salomeh Kheyri Rad | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer

Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1^st Floor  | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB

Dial: 01224 522166

[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

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4. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Kefford,

Thank you for your request for information, made under Section 1(1) of the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA), and received on 10 August
2020.

We would like to ask you to clarify your request so that we can identify
and locate the information which you have requested. Under Section 1(3) of
the FOISA, we do not have to supply you with the requested information
until you have provided us with more detail in this respect.

roadside verges

We would be extremely grateful if you could clarify what you mean by
‘roadside verges’? We have a number of categories and want to make sure we
are providing what you are looking for.

For example, we class ‘roadside verges’ as any green pavement edges
(possibly very narrow strips of grass cut with mowers) but, after sharing
your request with our grounds maintenance team, we suspect that what you
are interested in is what we call ‘rural verges’. Rural verges are classed
as the grass and greenery at the side of main roads and require a more
specialised approach for maintenance (i.e. specialist mowers).

Clarifying these points will help us to be sure we are providing, where
possible, the information you are interested in. Please note we will keep
your request on file for 20 working days whilst we await your
clarification. It can often be helpful to discuss your request with a
member of our team who may be able to help you frame your request or
explain more about how ACC holds its information; if this is something you
feel may be helpful please do call us, and we will be happy to assist you.

Please refer to [1]FOISA reviews & appeals and [2]Your Data for more
information about your rights under FOISA.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Grant Webster

Access to Information Officer

Grant Webster |Access to Information Officer

Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team | Customer Feedback
|Customer

Marischal College |Business Hub 6,  1st Floor South | Broad Street |
Aberdeen | AB10 1AQ

Dial: 01224 522166

[3]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
2. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
3. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Kefford,

Information enquiry reference EIR-20-0782.

Many thanks for your recent clarification of your information request,
which we received on 14 August 2020.

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is on
or before 11 September 2020.

While Aberdeen City Council are prioritising resources to support
vulnerable citizens and essential services, we remain committed to provide
responses to requests as soon as we can.

Please refer to [1]FOISA reviews & appeals and [2]Your Data for more
information about your rights under the Freedom of Information Scotland
Act (FOISA).

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries in the
meantime.

Yours sincerely,

[3]ACC_Crest_for Salomeh Kheyri Rad | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer

Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1^st Floor  | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB

Dial: 01224 522166

[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
2. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
4. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Kefford,

Thank you for your information request of 14 August 2020. Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) has completed the necessary search for the information
requested. Our response is now detailed below.

1. How many times did the council mow roadside verges across the county
between the months of March and July this year (2020)?

Normally we would commence cutting the rural verges in late May of each
year. It takes about 5 to 7 weeks to cut all the rural verges within the
City Boundary, depending on weather conditions, breakdowns and staff
holidays. A second cut would normally commence in August. This year, due
mainly to Covid 19 Lockdown, when the service was not deemed to be an
essential service, it was 29 June before the rural road verge cutting
commenced. The first cut has almost been completed, with only about 4 to 5
days work still to be completed in the North West part of the City, which
is due to be completed next week (W/C 24 August). When this is finished
the machine and operator will commence a second cut in the South side of
the City. So in summary, we had not completed 1 cut between March and July
2020

For reference, 1 cut would cover approximately just over 196,000m2 of
rural verges.

2. For the same months in 2019 (March - July), how many times did the
council mow roadside verges?

We had completed 1 cut by 5 July 2019

3. What was the schedule agreed at the start of the year (2020) for
roadside verge cutting?

The schedule for rural verge cutting is for 2 cuts between late May and
end of September.

4. Has the council deviated from this schedule in any way - has more or
less cutting than was planned taken place? By council mowing, I mean when
council staff were sent to mow roadside verges. No details of locations
are necessary, just the number of times across the county.

We are running approximately 6 weeks behind normal schedule, but still
plan to carry out the 2 scheduled cuts, albeit a few weeks behind normal
schedule

I would like to clarify - as per your request - what I am looking for when
referring to 'roadside verges'.  I believe the definition you have given
of 'rural verges' matches what I am looking for, so if you could provide
the relevant data for rural verge cuttings that would be great.

We hope this helps with your request.

Yours sincerely,

Grant Webster

Access to Information Officer

INFORMATION ABOUT THE HANDLING OF YOUR REQUEST

As the information which you requested is environmental information, as
defined under Regulation 2(1) of the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 (the EIRs), we considered that it was exempt from release
through FOISA, and must therefore give you notice that we are refusing 
your request under Section 39(2) of FOISA (Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002).  However, you have a separate right to access the
information which you have requested under Regulation 5 of the EIRs, under
which we have handled your request. Please refer to [1]FOISA reviews &
appeals and [2]Your Data for more information about your rights under the
EIRs.

[3]ACC_Crest_for Grant Webster | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer

Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1^st Floor  | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB

Dial: 01224 522166

[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

[5]COVID-19

COVID-19

COVID-19

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
2. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
4. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/
5. https://postimg.cc/kDxFrXny