Libraries and CIL funding

Stephen Whiteside made this Freedom of Information request to Croydon Borough Council Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was partially successful.

Stephen Whiteside

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

In response to an earlier information request (EIR 3701165), we were told that in 2019/20, £12,200 of borough CIL was spent on 'condition surveys' of the libraries at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley.

+++ Please provide full COPIES of each of those surveys.

According to a Report to Cabinet on 17 May 2021 (paras 5.3 and 5.4), it HAD BEEN AGREED that CIL could be used to fund the following in 2021/22:
(a) Replacement of obsolete self-service kiosks and install Open+ in three libraries (£650,000), and
(b) Fit out of the new South Norwood Library (£890,000).

The Report also stated that CIL funding of £265,000 HAD BEEN ALLOCATED for the following:
(c) Repairs and maintenance at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley.

+++ Please provide full COPIES of any 'CIL Expenditure Request Form -IFG" (including the approval sheets) regarding (a), (b) and (c) above.

On reviewing the Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement 2021/22, it would appear that funding from CIL on projects relating to Libraries amounted to only £75,870. (Table 1 - "Libraries Investment - General" )

+++ Please provide details of what that £75,870 was spent on.

+++ If there was other CIL expenditure on Libraries in that year, please provide details.

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Whiteside

croydon@infreemation.co.uk, Croydon Borough Council

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

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Dear Stephen Whiteside

 

Freedom of information request - FOI/9605

 

Subject: FOI - Libraries and CIL funding

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
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Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

 

7th Floor, Zone B

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

Stephen Whiteside

Dear [email address]

By law, the authority should normally have responded promptly and by 23 April 2024 at the latest.

If I do not receive the information by 26 April 2024, I will ask the Information Commissioner to intervene.

Yours faithfully

Stephen Whiteside

croydon@infreemation.co.uk, Croydon Borough Council

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[email address]

 

Dear Stephen Whiteside

Request FOI/9605

Further to your request received on 25/03/2024, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your
request. Specifically, you have requested the following information:
 

"According to a Report to Cabinet on 17 May 2021 (paras 5.3 and 5.4), it
HAD BEEN AGREED that CIL could be used to fund the following in 2021/22:
(a) Replacement of obsolete self-service kiosks and install Open+ in three
libraries (£650,000), and
(b) Fit out of the new South Norwood Library (£890,000).

The Report also stated that CIL funding of £265,000 HAD BEEN ALLOCATED for
the following:
(c) Repairs and maintenance at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead
and Shirley.

+++ Please provide full COPIES of any 'CIL Expenditure Request Form -IFG"
(including the approval sheets) regarding (a), (b) and (c) above.

On reviewing the Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement 2021/22, it would
appear that funding from CIL on projects relating to Libraries amounted to
only £75,870.  (Table 1 - "Libraries Investment - General" )

+++ Please provide details of what that £75,870 was spent on.

+++ If there was other CIL expenditure on Libraries in that year, please
provide details."

1. Replacement of obsolete self-service kiosks and install Open + in three
libraries – Response £198074.96 was spent in 2022/23

Published records as outlined in Infrastructure Funding Statements
regarding CIL conclude that CIL was not used to fund these projects. 

(b) Fit out of the new South Norwood Library, and
(c) Repairs and maintenance at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead
and Shirley.

You note additionally in your FOI that for the year 2021/22 funding from
CIL on projects relating to Libraries amounted to only £75,870 from the
Infrastructure Funding Statement 2021/22.  (Table 1 - "Libraries
Investment - General" ). 

The amount allocated and spent was £75,870.00.  This amount was as per the
listing below: -

£75,445.00 – ICT network infrastructure (all libraries)
£425.00 – Design work to rectify water ingress issue at Norbury Library  

There was no other CIL expenditure on libraries in 2021-22.

 

The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:

[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)

 

If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act, you may ask for an internal review.
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response.
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:

 

Email:        [2][email address]

 

Writing:     Information Team

London Borough of Croydon

Bernard Weatherill House

Floor 7 - Zone B

8 Mint Walk

Croydon, CR0 1EA

 

Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

Bernard Wetherill House,

Mint Walk,

Croydon,

CR0 1EA

 

 

[3][email address]

[4][email address]

 

References

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2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]

Stephen Whiteside

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

Request FOI/9605

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Libraries and CIL funding'.

You have FAILED to provide the copies of the 'condition surveys' of the libraries at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley.
+++ Please now provide FULL COPIES of each of those surveys.

You have also FAILED to provide copies of ANY CIL Expenditure Request Forms.
+++ Please provide full COPIES of any 'CIL Expenditure Request Form -IFG" (including the approval sheets) regarding the items listed [(a), (b) AND (c)] [These should all predate the report to Cabinet on 17 May 2021].
Please confirm which [if any] is/are ‘not held’.

+++ Where any CIL funds allocated to (a), (b) and/or (c) were NOT in the end used to fund these projects, please provide details of when and why [and by whom] that decision was taken.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Whiteside

croydon@infreemation.co.uk, Croydon Borough Council

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[email address]

 

Dear ***** *****

Request FOI/9605

Further to your request received on 25/03/2024, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your
request. Specifically, you have requested the following information:
 

"According to a Report to Cabinet on 17 May 2021 (paras 5.3 and 5.4), it
HAD BEEN AGREED that CIL could be used to fund the following in 2021/22:
(a) Replacement of obsolete self-service kiosks and install Open+ in three
libraries (£650,000), and
(b) Fit out of the new South Norwood Library (£890,000).

The Report also stated that CIL funding of £265,000 HAD BEEN ALLOCATED for
the following:
(c) Repairs and maintenance at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead
and Shirley.

+++ Please provide full COPIES of any 'CIL Expenditure Request Form -IFG"
(including the approval sheets) regarding (a), (b) and (c) above.

On reviewing the Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement 2021/22, it would
appear that funding from CIL on projects relating to Libraries amounted to
only £75,870.  (Table 1 - "Libraries Investment - General" )

+++ Please provide details of what that £75,870 was spent on.

+++ If there was other CIL expenditure on Libraries in that year, please
provide details."

1. Replacement of obsolete self-service kiosks and install Open + in three
libraries – Response £198074.96 was spent in 2022/23

Published records as outlined in Infrastructure Funding Statements
regarding CIL conclude that CIL was not used to fund these projects. 

(b) Fit out of the new South Norwood Library, and
(c) Repairs and maintenance at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead
and Shirley.

You note additionally in your FOI that for the year 2021/22 funding from
CIL on projects relating to Libraries amounted to only £75,870 from the
Infrastructure Funding Statement 2021/22.  (Table 1 - "Libraries
Investment - General" ). 

The amount allocated and spent was £75,870.00.  This amount was as per the
listing below: -

£75,445.00 – ICT network infrastructure (all libraries)
£425.00 – Design work to rectify water ingress issue at Norbury Library  

There was no other CIL expenditure on libraries in 2021-22.

 

The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:

[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)

 

If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act, you may ask for an internal review.
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response.
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:

 

Email:        [2][email address]

 

Writing:     Information Team

London Borough of Croydon

Bernard Weatherill House

Floor 7 - Zone B

8 Mint Walk

Croydon, CR0 1EA

 

Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

Bernard Wetherill House,

Mint Walk,

Croydon,

CR0 1EA

 

 

[3][email address]

[4][email address]

 

References

Visible links
1. https://croydon.disclosure-log.co.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]

Stephen Whiteside

Dear [email address],

Request FOI/9605 - 'Libraries and CIL funding'.

By law, the Council should have provided the outcome of this INTERNAL REVIEW as soon as possible and by 21 June 2024 at the latest. [Regulation 11(4)]

If I do not receive a substantive response by 26 June 2024, I will again ask the Information Commissioner to intervene.

Yours faithfully

Stephen Whiteside

Passman, Howard,

3 Attachments

Dear Stephen Whiteside,

 

Further to your email dated 24 April 2024, in which you requested an
Internal Review of the Council’s response to your request for information
made under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA), I have now concluded
this review and I am able to reply as follows.

 

In your request for Internal Review, you asked the Council to reconsider
your request as you believed that you had not been provided with the
information requested.

 

In your request for information dated 25 March in you requested details of
the use of CIL funding in respect of a number of libraries:

 

“According to a Report to Cabinet on 17 May 2021 (paras 5.3 and 5.4), it
HAD BEEN AGREED that CIL could be used to fund the following in 2021/22:

 

(a) Replacement of obsolete self-service kiosks and install Open+ in three
libraries (£650,000), and

 

(b) Fit out of the new South Norwood Library (£890,000).

 

The Report also stated that CIL funding of £265,000 HAD BEEN ALLOCATED for
the following:

 

(c) Repairs and maintenance at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead
and Shirley.

 

+++ Please provide full COPIES of any 'CIL Expenditure Request Form -IFG"
(including the approval sheets) regarding (a), (b) and (c) above.

 

On reviewing the Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement 2021/22, it would
appear that funding from CIL on projects relating to Libraries amounted to
only £75,870.  (Table 1 - "Libraries Investment - General" )

 

+++ Please provide details of what that £75,870 was spent on.

 

+++ If there was other CIL expenditure on Libraries in that year, please
provide details."

 

The Council responded to you on the 24 April 2024 and provided the
following response:

 

“Replacement of obsolete self-service kiosks and install Open + in three
libraries - Response £198074.96 was spent in 2022/23

 

Published records as outlined in Infrastructure Funding Statements
regarding CIL conclude that CIL was not used to fund these projects.

 

(b) Fit out of the new South Norwood Library, and

 

(c) Repairs and maintenance at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead
and Shirley.

 

You note additionally in your FOI that for the year 2021/22 funding from
CIL on projects relating to Libraries amounted to only £75,870 from the
Infrastructure Funding Statement 2021/22.  (Table 1 - "Libraries
Investment - General" ).

 

The amount allocated and spent was £75,870.00.  This amount was as per the
listing below: -

 

£75,445.00 – ICT network infrastructure (all libraries)

£425.00 – Design work to rectify water ingress issue at Norbury Library 

 

There was no other CIL expenditure on libraries in 2021-22.”

 

In your request for an Internal Review dated 24 April 2024 you stated the
following:

 

“You have FAILED to provide the copies of the condition surveys of the
libraries at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley.

 

+++ Please now provide FULL COPIES of each of those surveys.

 

You have also FAILED to provide copies of ANY CIL Expenditure Request
Forms.

 

+++ Please provide full COPIES of any CIL Expenditure Request Form -IFG"
(including the approval sheets) regarding the items listed [(a), (b) AND
(c)] [These should all predate the report to Cabinet on 17 May 2021].

Please confirm which [if any] is/are ‘not held".

 

+++ Where any CIL funds allocated to (a), (b) and/or (c) were NOT in the
end used to fund these projects, please provide details of when and why
[and by whom] that decision was taken.”

 

On receiving your request for an Internal Review, I contacted the Head of
Culture, Leisure and Libraries and Head of Spatial Planning, Growth Zone
and Regeneration.

 

Please find attached copies of CIL Expenditure Requests which detail the
use of the CIL funds and copies of the condition surveys for Bradmore
Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley libraries.

 

Minor redactions have been made to remove Personal Data that is,
considered to be exempt from disclosure under Section 40 of FoIA. 

 

Further information in respect of security measures taken at these
libraries is considered to be exempt from disclosure under Section
31(1)(a) (Prejudice to the Prevention or Detection of Crime). While there
is an obvious interest in how the Council manages the security of its
assets this should be balanced against the harm that could result from any
such disclosure.  The Council considers that providing this information
would place the Council assets at risk and undermine the Council’s duty to
secure the buildings and protect the public purse. The Council considers
that this is supported by the issues considered by the First Tier Tribunal
in EA/2011/0007 / FS50301943.

 

I apologise for the delay in providing you with a response.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the Internal Review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Howard Passman

020 8726 6000 ext. 27103

 

 

Resources Directorate

Legal Services Division

12th Floor
Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

 

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Stephen Whiteside

Dear Mr Passman

Libraries and CIL funding

Of the information finally disclosed, the only approved 'CIL Expenditure Request Form' that could have been of any relevance to THIS request, is that regarding the replacement of self-service kiosks at 13 libraries. (£200k). However, since the 'period covered' is shown as 2022/23, this Form does NOT cover the expenditure period in question (i.e.2021/22).

After more than three months, residents are therefore still none the wiser as to when (and by whom) it HAD BEEN agreed that CIL funding could be used in 2021/22, to replace obsolete self-service kiosks and install Open+ in three libraries (£650k) and/or to fit out the new South Norwood Library (£890k).

We have also still have nothing to show that by May 2021, CIL funding HAD BEEN allocated for repairs and maintenance at the libraries at Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley (£265k).

I believe that the information provided has also been wrongly redacted (names and dates).

On the above basis, I WILL be applying directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Whiteside

Stephen Whiteside left an annotation ()

I was told on 9 July 2024 that the ICO had accepted the case for investigation.

Unfortunately, it still awaits allocation to a case officer. (ICO case reference: IC-316428-C1R9)

Stephen Whiteside left an annotation ()

Progress Report

On 18 September 2024, I wrote to the ICO Group Manager (Alex Ganotis) as follows:

I was wondering whether this case has been allocated as yet?

Six months after I submitted this request for information, no evidence that the requisite authority had been given for CIL funding to be used to install Open+ ('self-service') in three libraries and/or to fit out the new South Norwood Library in 2021/22.

There has also been no evidence provided to show that by May 2021, CIL funding had been allocated for repairs and maintenance at four libraries (Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley). ....

Importantly, the Council (officers and councillors) are now making similar promises in relation to the allocation of CIL funds to repair/improve Croydon's libraries. Those (potentially false) promises are part of the current plans to fully close those same four libraries. The decision is due to be made by Cabinet next week and is of significant public interest.

In July 2020, my local ward councillor had this to say about the accuracy (honesty) of information provided by (planning) officers:

"Information provided to anyone by Council officers, be they resident or councillor should be honest and accurate and it would be unacceptable for that not to be the case. We must have trust in what we are being told by Council officers, anything compromising this would be undemocratic and unfair."

What may soon happen with regard to Croydon's library service, could be on the back of the same sort of disinformation as published in 2021. I speedy conclusion to this case could help prevent what I believe could/would be just such an undemocratic and unfair decision.

+++ Unfortunately there has been no response to date. Meanwhile, those four libraries are due to close this week.