London Plane Trees on Alexandra Gardens Cambridge

The request was partially successful.

A notice currently on London Plane trees on Alexandra Gardens off Carlyle Road states the council has been asked to prune the trees. Could you please release the correspondence in which this request was made.

Could you also please release all other material held by the council on which the council has based its published assertion that the trees are causing structural damage. eg. reports of any surveys of the propert(ies) and/or trees conducted by either the council or others.

I note the council has a duty, under the Freedom of Information Act, to respond promptly, and in this case as the deadline for consultation responses on the proposal to either prune or fell these trees is the 21st of September, a prompt response, would be particularly appreciated in this case so that the information released may be acted upon.

If any redaction is considered, eg. to remove personal information, I would like to request that, as required by the ICO's guidance, this is kept to the minimum. I believe the address of the property(ies) the council believes are being caused structural damage does not in this situation amount to personal information and ought be disclosed.

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Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

I have written an article on the proposed fellings at:

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk/london-planes-a...

Cambridge City Council

Dear Mr. Taylor

I acknowledge receipt of your email dated 3 September 2010 requesting information on London Plane Trees on Alexandra Gardens under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In accordance with the Act we will send you the information within 20 working days i.e. by 1 October 2010 at the latest.

If you need to contact us again regarding this matter please quote Customer Referral 44542 in any correspondence.

Yours sincerely

email: [email address]
phone: (01223) 457182
website: http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/

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Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

My local councillor, Tim Ward, has said that he has been told there is an independent report in existence, which if the council hold a copy of I would expect ought be disclosed in response to this request.

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk/london-planes-a...

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

I understand others who have made similar requests for information (informally and privately) have already had responses refusing the information on the grounds it amounts to personal information.

Dear Cambridge City Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Cambridge City Council's handling of my FOI request (Reference: Customer Referral 44542).

I have not yet had a response to my request. I would like the review to consider if the council is failing to comply with its duty under the act to respond promptly. As I explained in my request a prompt response would be of particular value in this case as the matter the request relates to is to be debated by the council's planning committee on Wednesday the 22nd of September.

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

Yours faithfully,

Richard Taylor

Christine Leonard, Cambridge City Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Taylor

Please find a response to your request for information attached.

Kind regards

Christine Leonard
Business Resources Manager
Business & Information Services
Environment & Planning
Cambridge City Council
PO Box 700
Cambridge
CB1 0JH

Tel: 01223 457182
Fax: 01223 457369

email: [email address]

Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
e-mail?

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Dear Cambridge City Council,

Reference: Customer Referral 44542

I am writing in relation to my recent Freedom of Information request in which I sought the release of correspondence and other information on which the council has based its assertion that the London Plane trees on Alexandra Gardens the council is currently proposing to fell or destructively prune are causing structural damage.

No correspondence from 2003-2004 in relation to this matter has been released despite such correspondence being referred to in the material supplied. If the council doesn't hold any such correspondence is there an explanation?

A letter from Peter Dann Limited to Cambridge City Council dated 7th May 2010 has been released. It appears from the council's response that this may be a covering letter which accompanied a more substantial report. Is there more detailed correspondence from Peter Dann Limited which has not been released?

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Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

I have written a further article in which I describe and comment on the key points from each of the released documents:

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk/information-rel...

Christine Leonard, Cambridge City Council

Dear Mr Taylor

I have discussed your query with Diana Oviatt-Ham and she referred me to page 22/40 of the Council's response to your FoI request, 'Update following completion of site investigations'. Within the update (on page 24/40), the company states that full details of the claim are not available.

The data is referred to in DOH's letter of 13th January 2005 (page 3/40), and referred to in the letter from Marishal Thompson & Co (page 1/40). However, during an office move, in 2005, a crate of files went missing. The file relating to this case is thought to have been included in the lost crate. Unfortunately, this was before the City Council introduced electronic document management systems. I am sorry that we are unable to access this information.

Regarding the letter from Peter Dann (page 31/40), Diana has confirmed that there was not a report accompanying this letter and that there is no further detailed correspondence from Mr Dann that has not been released.

Kind regards

Christine Leonard
Business Resources Manager
Business & Information Services
Environment & Planning
Cambridge City Council
PO Box 700
Cambridge
CB1 0JH

Tel: 01223 457182
Fax: 01223 457369

email: [email address]

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From: Richard Taylor <[FOI #46219 email]>
To: Christine Leonard <[email address]>
Date: 04/10/2010 09:38
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Request: Trees at Alexandra Gardens

Dear Cambridge City Council,

Reference: Customer Referral 44542

I am writing in relation to my recent Freedom of Information
request in which I sought the release of correspondence and other
information on which the council has based its assertion that the
London Plane trees on Alexandra Gardens the council is currently
proposing to fell or destructively prune are causing structural
damage.

No correspondence from 2003-2004 in relation to this matter has
been released despite such correspondence being referred to in the
material supplied. If the council doesn't hold any such
correspondence is there an explanation?

A letter from Peter Dann Limited to Cambridge City Council dated
7th May 2010 has been released. It appears from the council's
response that this may be a covering letter which accompanied a
more substantial report. Is there more detailed correspondence from
Peter Dann Limited which has not been released?

--

Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

show quoted sections