Housing demolition by Leeds City Council 2000-2011

The request was successful.

Dear Leeds City Council,

how many units of housing (houses, flats, maisonettes etc) were demolished by Leeds City Council during the financial years 2000-01 to 2010-11? Figures year by year, please.

What was the cost to the Council of acquiring those properties (where not already Council owned) and demolishing them?

How many of those properties were in long-term Council ownership?

What was the total amount of compensation paid to persons affected by these acquisitions over the same period?

How many new houses were built by Leeds City Council over the same period? Figures year by year, please.

How many properties does Leeds City Council intend to demolish during the financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13?

What is the total projected cost of those planned demolitions in terms of acquiring the properties, making compensation payments and the actual demolition work?

How many new houses does Leeds City Council plan to build over the same period (2011-13)?

Yours faithfully,

rachel lewis

Dobson, Mandy, Leeds City Council

Dear Rachel,

 

I am writing this letter in response to your request for information about
Housing Demolition that we received on 10^th October 2011.

 

We have looked at your request and we need further clarification from you
before we are able to identify and locate the information you have asked
for.

In particular, it would be useful to know if you are interested in Council
Houses or Private sector Houses data. Once you have clarified your
request, I will be able to begin to process it.

 

If I do not receive clarification within three months, your request will
be considered to have lapsed. (Under section 1(3) of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), a public authority does not have to comply with a
request if it is reasonable for us to be provided with  further guidance
that will help us to locate the information).

 

If you believe we have not looked fairly at your request for information;
or if you have any other enquiries, please contact me as soon as possible.

 

 

 

Amanda Dobson

Directorate Customer Relations Officer

Strategy and Commissioning

Leeds City Council

Tel:01132 243004

[1]www.leeds.gov.uk

 

I am out of the office on Mondays

 

 

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1. http://www.leeds.gov.uk/

Hi Mandy,

Sorry for not making it clear:

In terms of demolitions, I am interested in:

1) houses that were/are part of the council's housing stock that have been/are going to be demolished by the council

2) houses bought by the council from the private sector so that they can be demolished as part of an area plan

Hope that's a bit clearer. Please let me know if not.

In terms of construction, I am interested only in those houses built by the Council.

Yours sincerely,

rachel

Dobson, Mandy, Leeds City Council

Dear Rachel,

 

Please accept my sincere apologies we will be unable to meet the deadline
for your  Freedom of Information request ref 6407.

 

We are actively putting together a response to the questions you asked and
will be seeking to respond prior to the 15^th November.

 

Kind Regards

 

Amanda Dobson

Directorate Customer Relations Officer

Strategy and Commissioning

Leeds City Council

Tel:01132 243004

[1]www.leeds.gov.uk

 

I am out of the office on Mondays

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.leeds.gov.uk/

Dear Mandy,

thank you for letting me know

Yours sincerely,

rachel lewis

Dobson, Mandy, Leeds City Council

I am on a course this afternoon and will be back in the office on the 8th November 2011

Any queries regarding compliments & complaints or FOI/EIR/SAR please contact Sharon Simpson ex 74041

E&N Data Enquiries, Leeds City Council

Dear Rachel,

I am in the process of finalising your response ready to send out today but require some clarity regarding the following.

When asking question 3 are you referring back to the information to be provided at question 2?

Kind Regards

Amanda Dobson
Directorate Customer Relations Officer
Strategy and Commissioning
Leeds City Council
Tel:01132 243004
www.leeds.gov.uk

I am out of the office on Mondays

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Hi Mandy,
Sorry for the confusion.

What I want to know is:

1) how many units of housing (houses, flats, maisonettes etc) were demolished by Leeds City Council during the financial years 2000-01 to 2010-11? Figures year by year, please.

2) How much did the actual demolition work cost?

3) How many of the housing units demolished were Council-housing – i.e. properties already owned and rented out by the Council/local ALMOs as “social housing” at the time demolition plans were drawn up.

4) Where the properties earmarked for demolition were not Council housing, the Council will have had to acquire them from either private landlords or owner-occupiers. How much was spent on those acquisitions?

5) The Council will also have had to make compensation payments to individuals living in the properties earmarked for demolition (both social and private sector tenants). How much was paid?

Hope that's clearer. Please let me know if not.

Yours sincerely,

rachel lewis

E&N Data Enquiries, Leeds City Council

Dear Rachel,

Thank you. I am sorry for the delay. I am awaiting some final figures prior to sending the response.

Kind Regards

Amanda Dobson
Directorate Customer Relations Officer
Strategy and Commissioning
Leeds City Council
Tel:01132 243004
www.leeds.gov.uk

I am out of the office on Mondays

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E&N Data Enquiries, Leeds City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Rachel,

 

Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in sending through your
Freedom of Information response.

 

Please find attached a letter of response to your request reference 6407.

 

Kind Regards

 

Amanda Dobson

Directorate Customer Relations Officer

Strategy and Commissioning

Leeds City Council

Tel:01132 243004

[1]www.leeds.gov.uk

 

I am out of the office on Mondays

 

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Mandy,

Thanks for all the information. Don't worry about the delay.

Just so I can accurately understand the data you've provided, could you answer the following queries:

Q1)
Just to ensure that I’m reading the table right, are you saying that the Council only acquired 230 properties for demolition between 2002 and 2011?

In the answer to Q 2) you say that the ALMOs also engaged in property acquisition in preparation for demolition, but there’s no indication in the table of how many properties were involved.

Can you confirm overall that your figures say that 2,293 council homes were demolished between 2002-11 – the last 4 columns of your table?

Q 2)
The table of costs does not appear to include the cost of demolitions prior to 2005-06 (288 properties) or the cost of demolitions by the ALMOs (which represent 67% of the total number of demolitions)

For example, the figures say there was 0 cost of demolitions in 2005-06 and 2006-07, but elsewhere your figures say 689 properties were demolished by the ALMOs over those two years.

Similarly, is the cost to Aire Valley Homes of demolishing 300 properties in 2009-10 (the Holbeck Tower blocks, presumably) included in the overall demolition cost figure of £954,000 for that year? Or is that a cost being carried by the PFI project?

Q 4)
Where does the figure of 810 properties come from?

What timescale does the £4.1m compensation payments cover? Does it refer to the 810 properties above?

Q 5)
Can you confirm that your figures show that between the ALMOs and the council 63 council house properties were constructed between 2002 and 2011?

Xxxxxxxx

I have some supplementary questions that I should have asked first time round. Can I ask them as part of this correspondence or should I make a fresh FOI request?

Thanks for your help

Kind regards,

rachel

E&N Data Enquiries, Leeds City Council

Hello Rachel,

I will liaise with the Services involved and seek the clarity you are requesting below. Please could you present any supplementary questions as a new FOI request. Thank you

Any queries please don't hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards

Amanda Dobson
Directorate Customer Relations Officer
Strategy and Commissioning
Leeds City Council
Tel:01132 243004
www.leeds.gov.uk

I am out of the office on Mondays

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Dobson, Mandy, Leeds City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Rachel,

 

Please see below the response to your enquiries regarding your Freedom of
Information response.

 

Please note the original table in question 1 has altered slightly due to
an error in transposing the data. Please accept my apologies for the
confusion this may have caused. A totals column and a column detailing
properties demolished direct by Leeds City Council have been added for
clarity. See attached response in addition to the explanation below.

 

Q1)Just to ensure that I’m reading the table right, are you saying

     that the Council only acquired 230 properties for demolition

     between 2002 and 2011?

    

The total in the amended table is 1,982 LCC homes demolished – 143 through
private sector market renewal programme, 431 prior works linked to the PFI
programme and the remaining 1408 being ALMO demolitions.

 

     In the answer to Q 2) you say that the ALMOs also engaged in

     property acquisition in preparation for demolition, but there’s no

     indication in the table of how many properties were involved.

    

     Can you confirm overall that your figures say that 2,293 council

     homes were demolished between 2002-11 – the last 4 columns of your

     table?

    

     Q 2)

     The table of costs does not appear to include the cost of

     demolitions prior to 2005-06 (288 properties) or the cost of

     demolitions by the ALMOs (which represent 67% of the total number

     of demolitions)

 

Table 2 is for non council housing acquisition and demolition costs so
these costs relate only to the private stock purchased ( as detailed in
the first two columns in table 1) To provided the cost for the ALMOs would
take us above and beyond the timeframe as detailed in the applied
exemption.

    

     For example, the figures say there was 0 cost of demolitions in

     2005-06 and 2006-07, but elsewhere your figures say 689 properties

     were demolished by the ALMOs over those two years.

    

     Similarly, is the cost to Aire Valley Homes of demolishing 300

     properties in 2009-10 (the Holbeck Tower blocks, presumably)

     included in the overall demolition cost figure of £954,000 for that

     year? Or is that a cost being carried by the PFI project?

    

The cost of re-housing from Holbeck Towers is included in the £4.1m
re-housing and acquisition costs noted in the paragraph below the table.
LCC incurred the cost of actual demolition included in the £1.8m, again
in that paragraph.  The cost was incurred outside of the actual PFI
project, which has not yet commenced.

 

     Q 4)

     Where does the figure of 810 properties come from?

    

     What timescale does the £4.1m compensation payments cover? Does it

     refer to the 810 properties above?

    

Adding in the ALMO figures has now increased the total – the 810 related
to the total of Market renewal and PFI properties. Please note not all
demolished properties would result in compensation payments, as some will
be empty before the decision to clear had been made.

 

     Q 5)

     Can you confirm that your figures show that between the ALMOs and

     the council 63 council house properties were constructed between

     2002 and 2011?

    

63 properties were constructed between 2009-2010 in East Leeds for Council
Housing

 

Kind Regards

 

Amanda Dobson

Directorate Customer Relations Officer

Strategy and Commissioning

Leeds City Council

Tel:01132 243004

[1]www.leeds.gov.uk

 

I am out of the office on Mondays

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.leeds.gov.uk/