Information relating to road closures proposals within the Walford Road Area - Environmental Improvements consultation

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Hackney Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

I would be grateful if you could provide me with the below information.

Please note: when referring to “proposed road closures”, I am referring to the roads within Hackney Council’s Walford Road Area consultation, which ended on January 26th. These include Walford Road, Brighton Road, Beatty Road, Allen Road, Barbauld Road and Clonbrock Road.

“Hackney Council” means Hackney council, its individual councillors, planning team and StreetScene together with any other officers, employees and contractors of Hackney council. 

1. Please provide full details of the traffic count and air pollution data, calculations and / or modelling relating to Walford, Brighton, and Beatty Roads for all of the following periods / assessments:
(a) prior to the CS1 Wordsworth Road closures in 2016;
(b) Hackney council’s assessment / estimates of post-Wordsworth Road closures that were carried out when the 2016 closures were proposed; and
(c) the actual resulting traffic and air pollution counts on these roads after the Wordsworth Road closures. 

2. Please disclose whether any (a) Hackney councillors or MPs or (b) StreetScene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the Proposed Road Closures live on or around the roads that will be affected by the Proposed Road Closures and, if so, provide the relevant street name(s). If more than one person lives on certain streets please indicate that with the number of persons following the street name eg “Allen Road (2)”.

3. Please provide me with all reports and reviews associated with the Walford Rd area Environmental Improvements Proposals, to include those concerning Church St and / or William Patten school, within an 18 month timeframe ending on the date of receipt of this FOI. 

Yours faithfully,

Sally Newsom

Hackney Borough Council

[1]London Borough of Hackney logo

Dear Ms Newsom,

FOI Ref: FOI18-0306-15021

Thank you for submitting a Freedom of Information request. Your reference
number is FOI18-0306-15021.

Your request will be responded to within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely,

Information Management Team - FOI

[2][email address]

Disclaimers apply, for full details see:
https://hackney.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

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Hackney Borough Council

[1]London Borough of Hackney logo

Dear Ms Newsom,

FOI Ref: FOI18-0306-15021

Thank you for submitting a Freedom of Information request. Your reference
number is FOI18-0306-15021.

Your request will be responded to within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely,

Information Management Team - FOI

[2][email address]

Disclaimers apply, for full details see:
https://hackney.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

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Dear Hackney Borough Council,

FOI Ref: FOI18-0306-15021

I am writing regarding my FOI requests on the Walford Road Area Environmental Improvements consultation, for which Hackney Council's response was due by 3rd April. Given there is a legal obligation to respond within 20 working days I would be grateful if you would send me the requested information by Thursday 12th April at the latest.

Yours faithfully,

S Newsom

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

FOI REF: FOI18-0306-1502 'Information relating to road closures proposals within the Walford Road Area - Environmental Improvements consultation'

Please pass this on to the person within Hackney Council who conducts Freedom of Information Reviews.

The response to the above request was due by 3rd April, over a fortnight ago. The legal requirement is that a response is provided within 20 working days. On 9th April I wrote again asking for a response by 12th April. To date I've heard absolutely nothing at all from Hackney Council on what is a time-sensitive matter, therefore I am writing to request an urgent internal review.

Below is the information requested as part of my FOI:

Please note: when referring to “proposed road closures”, I am referring to the roads within Hackney Council’s Walford Road Area consultation, which ended on January 26th. These include Walford Road, Brighton Road, Beatty Road, Allen Road, Barbauld Road and Clonbrock Road.
“Hackney Council” means Hackney council, its individual councillors, planning team and StreetScene together with any other officers, employees and contractors of Hackney council. 

1. Please provide full details of the traffic count and air pollution data, calculations and / or modelling relating to Walford, Brighton, and Beatty Roads for all of the following periods / assessments:
(a) prior to the CS1 Wordsworth Road closures in 2016;
(b) Hackney council’s assessment / estimates of post-Wordsworth Road closures that were carried out when the 2016 closures were proposed; and
(c) the actual resulting traffic and air pollution counts on these roads after the Wordsworth Road closures. 

2. Please disclose whether any (a) Hackney councillors or MPs or (b) StreetScene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the Proposed Road Closures live on or around the roads that will be affected by the Proposed Road Closures and, if so, provide the relevant street name(s). If more than one person lives on certain streets please indicate that with the number of persons following the street name eg “Allen Road (2)”.

3. Please provide me with all reports and reviews associated with the Walford Rd area Environmental Improvements Proposals, to include those concerning Church St and / or William Patten school, within an 18 month timeframe ending on the date of receipt of this FOI. 

Thank you.

S Newsom

Information Management, Hackney Borough Council

Dear Ms Newsom,

We apologise for the delay in issuing your response. We have the response ready but are waiting for an attachment. I hope we will have this for you tomorrow.

Kind regards

Information Management
London Borough of Hackney

show quoted sections

Information Management, Hackney Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Newsom

 

Please find attached our response to the information you requested under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Information Management Team - Governance  

ICT Services

London Borough of Hackney

 

[1]www.hackney.gov.uk

 

Find out more about our work at [2]http://blogs.hackney.gov.uk/hackit/

 

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Dear Hackney Council,

Thank you for your response regarding Hackney Council’s Walford Road Area consultation however I believe my response has not been properly dealt with. My Freedom of Information request should have been considered either in part or entirely under the Environmental Information Regulations or perhaps even under the Inspire Regulations. Please therefore could you pass this email onto the person who deals with Internal Reviews within Hackney Council and therefore amend request period to your finalizing your review.

For the Internal Reviewer's clarification:

i) I believe air pollution data exists within Council's possession but has not been supplied. Council's link directs me to a broken link on its website http://news.hackney.gov.uk/update-on-cyc... - the link “F - Pollution monitoring data” showing an error page 'DNS error’. Nor is there a separate attachment with this air pollution data supplied.

ii) Similarly, regarding my question:-
'1.(c) the actual resulting traffic and air pollution counts on these roads after the Wordsworth Road closures.'
Traffic counts were attached but there are no air pollution counts supplied. Please supply the air pollution data in relation to 1.c above.

iii) Nor have I received a satisfactory response from Hackney Council to my question 2 reading:
'2. Please disclose whether any (a) Hackney councillors or MPs or (b) StreetScene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the Proposed Road Closures live on or around the roads that will be affected by the Proposed Road Closures and, if so, provide the relevant street name(s). If more than one person lives on certain streets please indicate that with the number of persons following the street name eg “Allen Road (2).'

To which Hackney Council responded:
'Only 1 Councillor is known to live in the area. No Streetscene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the proposals is known to live in the area affected.'

Since submitting this FOI on 3rd March 2018, I have become aware of:
1 MP living on Walford Rd, 1 Councillor on Allen Road, 1 Councillor on Princess May Road, 1 Councillor on Nevill Road and 1 Councillor on Palatine Avenue. Please therefore revise your reply to include a full response to my above question to include any others of which I might be unaware since those listed clearly fall within the area outlined. Obviously these omissions are more than unacceptable.
Please include those Councillors on roads which were affected by the Wordsworth Road closures - these roads are also affected by the outcome of the current consultation.

iv) Responding to my question 3. (see below)
'3. Please provide me with all reports and reviews associated with the Walford Rd area Environmental Improvements Proposals, to include those concerning Church St and / or William Patten school, within an 18 month timeframe ending on the date of receipt of this FOI.'

Hackney Council responded: 'No reports exist.'

This has been a high profile consultation. According to Council it received over 2200 responses and a petition of over 800 signatures presented to and debated by Full Council in February 2018. The Council have twice delayed their decision on the Consultation. I therefore find it hard to believe that no reports or reviews exist around the proposals as described.

Therefore I look forward to receiving all requested information amending request period to your finalizing your review.

Yours faithfully,

S Newsom

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Thank you for your information request.

This is an automated response and acknowledgement. If you have submitted a
request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the Environmental
Information Regulations (EIR), your request will be considered and you
will receive our response within the statutory timescale of 20 working
days.

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Dear Mrs Newsom,

Our apologies for the delay in acknowledging your request for an internal
review.

Your request is being investigated and we hope to have a response for you
this week.

Kind regards

Information Management
ICT Services
London Borough of Hackney 

 

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Dear Ms Newsom,

Our apologies for the long delay in addressing this review. The below is a
partial response - I hope to have more information from Member Services
today or early next week.

In your request to the review, you raised questions as follows:

.       Please disclose whether any (a) Hackney councillors or MPs or (b)
StreetScene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the
Proposed Road Closures live on or around the roads that will be affected
by the Proposed Road Closures and, if so, provide the relevant street
name(s). If more than one person lives on certain streets please indicate
that with the number of persons following the street name eg “Allen Road
(2)”.

We replied: ‘Only 1 Councillor is known to live in the area. No
Streetscene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the
proposals is known to live in the area affected.'

You replied that you were aware of:

1 MP living on Walford Rd, 1 Councillor on Allen Road, 1 Councillor on
Princess May Road, 1 Councillor on Nevill Road and 1 Councillor on
Palatine Avenue. Please therefore revise your reply to include a full
response to my above question to include any others of which I might be
unaware since those listed clearly fall within the area outlined. 

Our colleagues in the relevant service area responded to the best of their
knowledge and did not intend to mislead. We did consult Member Services as
well, but did not receive a response. We accept that we should have waited
until we had one until sending out our reply, but were keen to reply as
soon as possible given that there had already been delays. We are now
waiting back to hear from Member Services.

. Please provide me with all reports and reviews associated with the
Walford Rd area Environmental Improvements Proposals, to include those
concerning Church St and / or William Patten school, within an 18 month
timeframe ending on the date of receipt of this FOI.

We said that no reports or reviews exist.

You replied:

This has been a high profile consultation. According to Council it
received over 2200 responses and a petition of over 800 signatures
presented to and debated by Full Council in February 2018. The Council
have twice delayed their decision on the Consultation. I therefore find it
hard to believe that no reports or reviews exist around the proposals as
described.

At the time of writing, this continues to be the case. However a report
will be prepared for the Council and we should have mentioned that
intention in our response. This report will detail the background to the
scheme, the analysed consultation and responses and a discussion on
concerns, along with recommendation(s).  This is anticipated to be the
October meeting, but will depend on all information being available. 

Additionally, following the Clean Air Group meeting on 4th July at William
Patten School, at which you were present, we have updated the website,
Please see the following link:
http://news.hackney.gov.uk/update-on-cyc...  

If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner, although you may wish to
wait until our final response to the first part of the review.

[1]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ema...

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113

Kind regards

Information Management
ICT Services
London Borough of Hackney 

 

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Dear [email address],

I am still waiting for additional information promised by Hackney Council regarding my request dated 1.3.18: "Please disclose whether any (a) Hackney councillors or MPs or (b) StreetScene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the Proposed Road Closures live on or around the roads that will be affected by the Proposed Road Closures and, if so, provide the relevant street name(s). If more than one person lives on certain streets please indicate that with the number of persons following the street name eg “Allen Road (2)”.

To which Hackney Council initially replied: ‘Only 1 Councillor is known to live in the area. No Streetscene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the proposals is known to live in the area affected.'

I then got back in contact again to inform the Council that I was aware of: 1 MP living on Walford Rd, 1 Councillor on Allen Road, 1 Councillor on Princess May Road, 1 Councillor on Nevill Road and 1 Councillor on Palatine Avenue. Please therefore revise your reply to include a full response to my above question to include any others of which I might be unaware since those listed clearly fall within the area outlined.

Hackney Council's response: Our colleagues in the relevant service area responded to the best of their
knowledge and did not intend to mislead. We did consult Member Services as well, but did not receive a response. We accept that we should have waited until we had one until sending out our reply, but were keen to reply as soon as possible given that there had already been delays. We are now waiting back to hear from Member Services.

Please therefore send me an complete and comprehensive response from Member Services as promised, regarding my original FOI request - now over 6 months old.

Yours sincerely,

S Newsom

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Our apologies - this request was raised with the relevant departments but
we had not heard back from them. We have chased them and hope to have a
response for you soon.

Kind regards

Information Management

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Hackney Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Information relating to road closures proposals within the Walford Road Area - Environmental Improvements consultation'.

I made this request dated 1.3.18 over 9 months ago: "Please disclose whether any (a) Hackney councillors or MPs or (b) StreetScene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the Proposed Road Closures live on or around the roads that will be affected by the Proposed Road Closures and, if so, provide the relevant street name(s). If more than one person lives on certain streets please indicate that with the number of persons following the street name eg “Allen Road (2)”. Yet I still have not received an answer.

Hackney Council initially replied: ‘Only 1 Councillor is known to live in the area. No Streetscene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the proposals is known to live in the area affected.'

I then got back in contact again to inform the Council that I was aware of: 1 MP living on Walford Rd, 1 Councillor on Allen Road, 1 Councillor on Princess May Road, 1 Councillor on Nevill Road and 1 Councillor on Palatine Avenue. Please therefore revise your reply to include a full response to my above question to include any others of which I might be unaware since those listed clearly fall within the area outlined.

Hackney Council's response: Our colleagues in the relevant service area responded to the best of their
knowledge and did not intend to mislead. We did consult Member Services as well, but did not receive a response. We accept that we should have waited until we had one until sending out our reply, but were keen to reply as soon as possible given that there had already been delays. We are now waiting back to hear from Member Services.

I have received no further update since 21st September, when I was told the Council were chasing the relevant departments. This is a straightforward question which in no way justifies 9 months to repond.

Yours sincerely,

S Newsom

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Thank you for your information request.

This is an automated response and acknowledgement. If you have submitted a
request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the Environmental
Information Regulations (EIR), we will aim to respond within the statutory
timescale of 20 working days.

Dear [email address],

I lodged this FOI on 1st March 2018 and still have not received a correct or complete response.
20 working days ago on 4th December 2018, I asked for an Internal Review.

Other than an automatic acknowledgement I have received nothing further from yourselves regarding my request, now 10 months old, nor have I received a response to say an Internal Review is underway.

If I hear nothing further by Tuesday 15th next week, I will be writing to the ICO to make a formal complaint.

Yours sincerely,

S Newsom

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Thank you for your information request.

This is an automated response and acknowledgement. If you have submitted a
request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the Environmental
Information Regulations (EIR), we will aim to respond within the statutory
timescale of 20 working days.

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Dear S Newsom,

Our apologies for the extremely long delay in completing this disclosure
in relation to this review. We have received your complaint via the ICO
and will be addressing it under this cover.

You originally asked

Please disclose whether any (a) Hackney councillors or MPs or (b)
StreetScene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the
Proposed Road Closures live on or around the roads that will be affected
by the Proposed Road Closures and, if so, provide the relevant street
name(s). If more than one person lives on certain streets please indicate
that with the number of persons following the street name eg “Allen Road
(2)”.

We initially replied: ‘Only 1 Councillor is known to live in the area. No
Streetscene employees or Hackney Council consultants involved in the
proposals is known to live in the area affected.''

In your request for a review, you informed the Council that you were aware
of: 1 MP living on Walford Rd, 1 Councillor on Allen Road, 1 Councillor on
Princess May Road, 1 Councillor on Nevill Road and 1 Councillor on
Palatine Avenue. Please therefore revise your reply to include a full
response to my above question to include any others of which I might be
unaware since those listed clearly fall within the area outlined.

London Borough of Hackney can now confirm the following:

The roads affected by the consultation are listed in the attached
document.

The wards involved in the consultation are as follows:

Clissold Ward

Stoke Newington Ward 

Shacklewell Ward 

3 of the 8 Councillors in the named wards live on roads affected by the
consultation (Clissold, Stoke Newington, Shaklewell Wards)

1 x Nevill Road, 1 x Allen Road and 1 x Albion Road.

Out of all 57 councillors + 1 Mayor , 5 Councillors live on roads affected
by the consultation (3 of those mentioned above)

1 x Nevill Road, 1 x Allen Road, 1 x Albion Road, 1 x Princess May Road, 1
x Palatine Avenue

If you are still not satisfied following this Internal Review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner. As you have an existing
complaint with them on this FOI, you should use the existing reference
number.

[1]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ema...

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113

Kind regards

Information Management
ICT Services
London Borough of Hackney 

 

 

 

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hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

1 Attachment

Our apologies - here is the attachment.