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]

NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
your emails to us.

DEAR Debbie Connal

Freedom of information request - FOI/7430

Subject: Accommodation Waiting Times

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.

If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why, and details of how you
may appeal.

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully. 

Kind Regard

Information Management Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

7th Floor, Zone B

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

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]

Dear Debbie Connal

Request FOI/7430

Further to your request received on 20/04/2023, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000. For ease of reference, I will now address each of your questions in
turn.

1. The total number of people currently on the waiting list for council
housing properties, broken down by bedroom number?

Please see attached document ~ Housing Register by band / bed size.

2. The number of people currently on the waiting list for housing in each
area of the council, broken down by property bedroom number?

The Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004
specify an “appropriate limit” for the amount of time the council needs to
spend undertaking that search.  If the council estimates that the time to
taken to locate, retrieve and extract the information requested will
exceed the appropriate limit, then under Section 12 of the Act, it is not
obliged to carry comply with that request.

The appropriate limit currently specified by the Regulations for local
authorities is £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending two and a half working days in locating, retrieving and
extracting the information from where it is stored.

In order to provide the information you have requested, the council would
need to undertake a specific piece of work to review each case in order to
locate, retrieve and extract information. Our records at present, cannot
extract this information, and the cumulative time it would take Council
officers to do this manually would exceed the “appropriate limit”. 
Therefore, we are unable to disclose the information you are seeking as it
would take our officers in excess of 18 hours.
 

3. The anticipated waiting time for council accommodation, broken down by
bedroom number.

We have compiled past 5 years – please see attached.

4. The anticipated waiting time for council accommodation in each
geographical area, broken down by bedroom property number.

We have compiled past 5 years – please see attached.

5. The average waiting time for council accommodation, broken down by
bedroom number, in each of the last ten years.

I have compiled past 5 years – please see attached.

6. The average waiting time for council accommodation in each geographical
area, broken down by bedroom number, in each of the last ten years.

The Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004
specify an “appropriate limit” for the amount of time the council needs to
spend undertaking that search.  If the council estimates that the time to
taken to locate, retrieve and extract the information requested will
exceed the appropriate limit, then under Section 12 of the Act, it is not
obliged to carry comply with that request.

The appropriate limit currently specified by the Regulations for local
authorities is £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending two and a half working days in locating, retrieving and
extracting the information from where it is stored.

In order to provide the information you have requested, the council would
need to undertake a specific piece of work to review each case in order to
locate, retrieve and extract information. Our records at present, cannot
extract this information, and the cumulative time it would take Council
officers to do this manually would exceed the “appropriate limit”. 
Therefore, we are unable to disclose the information you are seeking as it
would take our officers in excess of 18 hours.

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][Croydon Borough Council request email]

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][Croydon Borough Council request email]

[4][email address]

References

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1. https://croydon.disclosure-log.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
3. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
4. mailto:[email address]