George Ferguson's relationship with planning

The request was partially successful.

Dear Bristol City Council,
i've recently found out through twitter ("Is Ferguson chucking the toys out of his pram because he’s not getting his way regarding his retirement home conversion?") that the Council granted planning permissions for 18 Great George Street, application reference 16/05352/F and 16/05353/LA . The applicant was Royal Colonnade Initiatives (RCI), an entity entirely owned by George Ferguson, ex-mayor of Bristol. The proposals were granted to convert an office owned by RCI into a five-bed retirement home for his personal use. It looks suspiciously like planners might have been influenced by George Ferguson into granting planning without due process and the use of Royal Colonnade Investments was intended to avoid public scrutiny.

Please answer the following:
Why was a marketing report for an adjacent house was accepted to allow change of use from offices against policy?
Were Bristol City Council aware that the applicant was George Fergusson and, if so, what point were they aware?
What processes were instigated by the Council for a politically sensitive planning application for the private company controlled by the ex-mayor?

Please provide all correspondence, emails, letters, file notes, records and dates of telephone calls, and/or meeting notes relating specifically to George Ferguson, or refering to him as the applicant, in relation to the above applications and with any member of staff from the planning department.
Please provide dates of any meetings with George Ferguson relating to the planning applications.

Yours faithfully,

Elaine Pope

Freedom of Information, Bristol City Council

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No Reply @ Bristol, Bristol City Council

Dear Elaine Pope 
This is a courtesy email to let you know your Public Information
Request has been received on : 18/06/2018. 
Your unique reference number is "CRN00173196 ". Please keep this
number safe, as you may be required to provide it in the future. 
If you need to add further information concerning your case or
require an update about your response date, please email
[email address
Regards,
Customer Relations Team

Jonathan Dymond, Bristol City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Elaine Pope,

 

You recently sent us a request for information CRN00173196.

 

Please provide all correspondence, emails, letters, file notes, records and dates of telephone calls, and/or meeting notes relating specifically to George Ferguson, or refering to him as the applicant, in relation to the above applications and with any member of staff from the planning department.  

Please provide dates of any meetings with George Ferguson relating to the planning applications.

 

We are extending the deadline for responding to your request to 03/08/2018
due to the volume of the information requested.

 

Regards,

 

Jonathan

 

Jonathan Dymond

Team Manager

Development Management - Growth and Regeneration Directorate

Bristol City Council, PO Box 3176, Bristol , BS3 9FS

 

T: 0117 35 76398

E: [1][email address]                

Web: [2]www.bristol.gov.uk           

 

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Please note new address for post only: Planning Services (City Hall), PO
Box 3176 Bristol BS3 9FS

 

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Dear Jonathan Dymond,

Your response is now due. Please can you send me the information requested?
Yours sincerely,

Ellie Pipe

"No Reply @ Bristol" <noreply@bristol.gov.uk>, Bristol City Council

You sent us a Freedom of Information request on 18/06/18
Your request number is CRN00173196

Our reply to your request is: 
 
Dear Ms Pope
 
Thank you for your enquiry received 18th June 2018 regarding planning
application 16/05352/F and listed building consent 16/05353/LA relating
to 18 Great George Street.
 
Our response to your specific queries regarding the above applications
is as follows:
 
The applicant made reference to the marketing that was undertaken in
relation to a nearby site in documentation submitted in support of
planning application 16/05352/F. Following an initial assessment by
officers, it was however considered that further information was
required to inform the assessment of this aspect of the proposal
against relevant planning policy criteria. The applicant submitted
further commentary from an agent dealing with office premises in
Bristol regarding marketing matters. It is normal practice for further
information to be requested from an applicant during the course of a
planning application. The development management service seeks to work
positively and proactively with all applicants for planning permission
so that sustainable development can be delivered in the city. This can
involve seeking further information and discussing amendments to plans.
 
Whether the principle of the development was acceptable was identified
as a key issue in the assessment of the application. The principle of
the proposed change of use was found to be acceptable and in accordance
with planning policy. The assessment of this issue is set out in full
in the case officer’s delegated report. This report is available to
view online, via the planning applications search page.
 
The applicant for planning application 16/05352/F and listed building
consent 16/05353/LA was Royal Colonnade Initiatives. Both the planning
application and application for listed building consent were duly
processed in the normal way, in accordance with the requirements of
planning legislation and relevant national and local procedures. The
identity of the applicant was not relevant to the assessment of the
planning merits of the proposal, as is the case with all planning
applications.
 
Turning to your request for information relating to the applications,
this has been considered under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIR). The information requested is ‘environmental
information’ as it meets the definition set out in the Regulations. I
can confirm that we hold information falling within the scope of your
request.
 
Information relating to planning application 16/05352/F and listed
building consent 16/05353/LA including documentation relating to the
applications was made available to view on our website and some
information falling within the scope of your request is therefore
publically available. Information relating to planning applications is
published on our website in the interests of transparency to allow
objections to be made and proposals to be challenged. 
 
In relation to the remaining information, it is considered that the
following exceptions are engaged:
 
Under Regulation 12 (4) a public authority may refuse to disclose
information to the extent that:
(d) the request relates to material which is still in the course of
completion, to unfinished documents or to incomplete data;
(e) the request involves the disclosure of internal communications
 
Under Regulation 13 (1) and (2) , to the extent that the information
requested includes personal data of which the applicant is not the data
subject and as respects which either the first or second condition
below is satisfied, a public authority shall not disclose the personal
data.
 
(2) The first condition is—
 
(a)  in a case where the information falls within any of paragraphs (a)
to (d) of the definition of “data” in section 1(1) of the Data
Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure of the information to a member
of the public otherwise than under these Regulations would contravene—
 
(i) any of the data protection principles; or
 
(ii) section 10 of that Act (right to prevent processing likely to
cause damage or distress) and in all the circumstances of the case, the
public interest in not disclosing the information outweighs the public
interest in disclosing it; and
 
(b) in any other case, that the disclosure of the information to a
member of the public otherwise than under these Regulations would
contravene any of the data protection principles if the exemptions in
section 33A(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998(1) (which relate to
manual data held by public authorities) were disregarded.
 
In relation to the information exempt under Regulation 12 (4), it is
considered that releasing this at this time would have an adverse
impact on the Council’s ability to discuss and formulate
recommendations in a ‘safe space’. It is considered to be in the public
interest that a free-flow and honest exchange of views, options and
suggestions to allow proposal to be effectively handled and assessed
going forward is protected. Accordingly it is considered that
maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing
the information.
 
Turning to the information exempt under Regulation 13 (1) and (2),
regard has been had to the adverse effect that disclosure would likely
result in and it is considered that the public interest lies in not
disclosing this information.
 
After assessing all the considerations relevant to the circumstances of
your request, we consider that the balance of the public interest
favours maintaining the disclosure-exception provisions under
regulations 12 (4) (d) and (e), and regulation 13 (1) and (2) relevant
to the remaining information at this time.
 
This response should answer your request in full.

If you’re not satisfied with our response, or if you want to appeal
against any exemptions:
Email: [1][Bristol City Council request email]  
Write to: Customer Relations (100TS), PO Box 3176, Bristol, BS3 9FS

If you’re still not satisfied with our response:

You can complain to the Information Commissioner. 
Find out how to do this on the Information Commissioner Office website
 (link to [2]http://ico.org.uk/concerns)
 
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Copyright may be owned by the council or by a third party.
 
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party.
 
Kind regards
 
Jonathan Dymond
Development Management
Bristol City Council

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