Meadow Lane :Construction site / storage compound

The request was partially successful.

Dear Mid Devon District Council,

With regards to the field in Meadow Lane, Cullompton (owned by MDDC) being used by Balfour Beatty / Dean & Dyball on behalf of South West Water for installation of new drainage scheme, please provide:-

1.Date of first contact from any of said companies with regards to possible use of this land.

2.Please provide copies of correspondence on discussions , use of land, and any contracts or agreements made for its use or re-in-statement at end of works.

3.What consideration was given to fact the land is a noted flood zone.

4.What consideration was given to noise and other nuisance
matters that would affect nearby residents.

5.Please provide details and copies of records , emails etc as to when Environmental Health were first contacted and any comments arising from discussions or recommendations.

6.Following on to question 4 & 5 what consideration was given to the Human Rights Act where an individuals quality of live would be affected by use of field for storage compound for over 6 months ? MDDC do consider Human Rights Act during many of its committee meetings, was it done here?
If not, why not ?

7.Why did MDDC not discuss / consult with local residents at this location as it is a well established fact that there is a noise sensitive issue that has been there for over 10yrs and is well documented ?

Yours faithfully,

Mike Thompson

Freedom Of Information, Mid Devon District Council

For the attention of Mike Thompson

Thank you for your request for information about the field in meadow lane, Cullompton. Your request was received on 7th December 2011 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be required to pay before we proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Kind regards

Alex Barwell - Information Management Assistant
Mid Devon District Council
Phoenix House
Phoenix Lane
Tiverton
Devon
EX16 6PP

Tel: 01884 255255
FOI - 01644

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Freedom Of Information, Mid Devon District Council

2 Attachments

  • Attachment

    FW SWW Compound and Works Meadow Lane Cullompton.html

    2K Download

  • Attachment

    RE Scheme Cullompton Sewerage Scheme.html

    7K Download

For the attention of Mike Thompson

I write in reply to your email to Mid Devon District Council, dated 7th December 2011, requesting information under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 as below.

Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Below, I repeat your questions and provide each with an appropriate answer:

YOU ASKED:

1. Date of first contact from any of said companies with regards to possible use of this land.

2. Please provide copies of correspondence on discussions , use of land, and any contracts or agreements made for its use or re-in-statement at end of works.

3. What consideration was given to fact the land is a noted flood zone.

4. What consideration was given to noise and other nuisance matters that would affect nearby residents.

5. Please provide details and copies of records , emails etc. as to when Environmental Health were first contacted and any comments arising from discussions or recommendations.

6. Following on to question 4 & 5 what consideration was given to the Human Rights Act where an individual's quality of live would be affected by use of field for storage compound for over 6 months? MDDC do consider Human Rights Act during many of its committee meetings, was it done here? If not, why not?

7. Why did MDDC not discuss / consult with local residents at this location as it is a well established fact that there is a noise sensitive issue that has been there for over 10yrs and is well documented?

ANSWER:

1. I can confirm that Mid Devon District Council does hold the information that you have requested. The Authority was first contacted regarding the sewerage proposals on 24th May 2011. Plans were presented to the Council on 9th August showing the construction work area, during which consideration was given to the revised sewerage proposals.

2. Please find attached a copy of email correspondence regarding the use of land, entitled 'scheme: Cullompton sewerage scheme'.

3. I can confirm that the Council does not hold a record of consideration being given to the fact that the land is a 'noted flood zone'. South West Water are aware of the flood risk at the above location.

4. I can confirm that the Authority does not hold a record of consideration being given to 'noise and other nuisance matters' that would affect nearby residents.

5. Please find attached a copy of an email, dated 7th November, in which Environmental Health were first contacted regarding this matter, entitled ' SWW Compound and Works Meadow Lane Cullompton'.

6. I can confirm that the Council does not hold a record of any consideration being made with regard to the Human Rights Act in relation to the effect on individuals quality of life of the use of the site. I can also confirm that Mid Devon District Council does not hold a record of the reasoning behind the decision not to consider the Human Rights Act in this instance. It is therefore not possible to provide an answer to the second part of your question.

7. I can confirm that Mid Devon District Council does not hold the information that you have requested. There is no record of the reasoning behind the decision not to consult with local residents at this location regarding any 'noise sensitive issues'. It is therefore not possible to provide an answer to your question.

Please note that contact details relating to individuals contained within the attached emails have been removed. As have the names of MDDC Officers whose role is not considered to be customer facing.

I hope you will find the above information of use.

If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and wish to request a review of the decision, or how your request has been handled, please write to Customer Services, Mid Devon District Council, Phoenix House, Phoenix Lane, Tiverton, Devon, EX16 6PP and state your reasons.

Alternatively, you may complete the online complaint/review form – details of which can be found on the Council Website at www.middevon.gov.uk/index.aspx?articeid=....

Please note that your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request received after this time will not be considered.

If the review does not resolve the matter to your satisfaction, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. (The contact details for the Information Commissioner can be found at www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx).

Yours sincerely

Alex Barwell - Information Management Assistant
Mid Devon District Council
Phoenix House
Phoenix Lane
Tiverton
Devon
EX16 6PP

Tel: 01884 255255
Email: [Mid Devon District Council request email]
FOI – 01644

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Dear Freedom Of Information,

Thank you for your reply, unfortunately you have failed to produce all the records I asked for :-
Q2. Please provide copies of correspondence on discussions , use of land, and any contracts or agreements made for its use or re-in-statement at end of works.

You have shown discussions took place from May 2011 onwards with various parties, Steve Densham email refers to earlier emails, yet they have not been provided.

You have also redacted names of officers, as the discussions took place at senior officer level FOI act says details should be given,

Your quote "Please note that contact details relating to individuals contained within the attached emails have been removed. As have the names of MDDC Officers whose role is not considered to be customer facing" I dont remember customer facing in the FOI Act ?

Please arrange for updated documents to have details.

Many thanks for your assistance, I look forward to receiving all the correspondence asap.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Thompson

Dear Mid Devon District Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Mid Devon District Council's handling of my FOI request 'Meadow Lane :Construction site / storage compound'.

[ You have failed to respond to my comments even though I phoned you, I now wish an internal review ]

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

Yours faithfully,

Mike Thompson

Freedom Of Information, Mid Devon District Council

For the attention of Mike Thompson

Please accept this as a formal acknowledgement of your application for an internal review of your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Unfortunately, at this time I cannot provide a date by which this internal review will be completed due to staff illness, as I advised you during our conversation on 9th January.

For the purpose of clarity can you please quote the reference number above in future communications.

Kind regards

Alex Barwell - Information Management Assistant

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Dear Freedom Of Information,
FOI - 01644
My original request for review was 19th January, today is 22nd working day.

I believe MDDC has had staffing issues for a considerable time, therefore its not acceptable to delay requests.

Can I please have results of internal review ?
Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Thompson

Christina Cross, Mid Devon District Council

10 Attachments

For the attention of Mike Thompson

 

I write further to your email dated 18^th January 2012 addressed to Mid
Devon District Council, where you expressed your dissatisfaction with the
response issued to your Freedom of Information request regarding the
‘Meadow lane :Construction site / storage compound’.

 

I can confirm that an internal review has been carried out.  During the
course of this review it was considered appropriate to address the points
that you raised in your email dated 9^th January 2012 and to focus on the
issues with which you have expressed dissatisfaction. From your
correspondence the two points considered were the documents provided in
answer to Question 2 and the decision to redact certain personal
information from emails that formed part of the response. These points
were considered in turn.

 

An exhaustive search has been conducted to locate any correspondence held
by the Council that relates to ‘discussions, use of land, and any
contracts or agreements made for its use or re-instatement at end of
works’. Further correspondences that have been located have been attached
to this email. Please note that the Council considers this to be all of
the requested information that is held. As such, no information is being
withheld from you, except for the personal information contained within
the emails that you have requested.

 

The ICO recommends that the Council have a policy in relation to the
identification of Officers during the course of Freedom of Information
requests. It is Mid Devon District Councils position that only those that
are considered to have public facing roles should be identified. Only
Heads of Service and above are considered to have public facing roles. In
the original response to your request the word customer was inadvertently
used in the place of public. I hope this clears this matter up for you and
apologise for any confusion that it caused.

 

Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption from
disclosing information about identifiable individuals where it would
breach the Data Protection Act. According to the ICO guidelines, the
presumption is in favour of protecting privacy. The three stage test
requires the Council to consider whether:

 

o there is a legitimate interest in disclosure;
o the legitimate interest can only be met, or fully met, by the
disclosure of information that identifies individuals (i.e. the
disclosure is necessary to that purpose); and,
o the disclosure would not involve unwarranted detriment to the
individual’s privacy or other rights and legitimate interests.

 

On this occasion it was felt that the decision to apply the Section 40(2)
exemption was correct as there was no legitimate interest that could only
be met by identifying the name of employees of third parties or Council
Officers. The contents of the email were disclosed in full and it is not
felt that the name of the individual involved would add any value to the
response. The decision to redact the name of this individual is therefore
upheld.

 

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
Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

 

With Kind regards

 

Christina Cross

Head of ICT

Mid Devon District Council

Phoenix House

Phoenix Lane

Tiverton

Devon

EX16 6PP

Dear Christina Cross,

Thank you for your response, on first inspection there are certainly documents of interest there, BUT I feel you have redacted too much detail, lots of the correspondence is obviously too and fro between important persons making decisions and comments. Seeing a series of xxxx is not telling me which company or organisation these documents are from/to.

It is important that I know more information on who is sending / receiving the communications, I need these facts to pass in due course to others.

I now formally request please those documents to be redone so it makes sense reading them.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Thompson

Dear Christina Cross,

Further to my previous comments, I have now been through the documents provided, it is obvious to even a school pupil there are emails and documents missing.

It was replied to previously that MDDC were aware back in early part of 2011 what was happening, where is the correspondence, records of meetings etc ?

I will inform the Ombudsman there are big gaps in items supplied. I look forward to receiving the rest of documents sooner rather than later, thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Thompson

Christina Cross, Mid Devon District Council

For the attention of Mike Thompson

The redaction of personal information is a matter of law not opinion. The Council would be in breach of the Data Protection Act by disclosing the personal information of third parties and Council Officers during a response to a Freedom of Information request. If you wish to contest the legal basis under which this personal information was withheld you are entitled to complain to the Information Commissioners office.

The emails that were disclosed as a result of the internal review only had personal information removed, not the full email address. The extensions such as @middevon, @southwestwater or @thorneandcarter were deliberately left for the purpose of identifying the source of the email without disclosing any personal information. Mid Devon District Council does not have control over the way in which the whatdotheyknow.com website chooses to strip out all email addresses from correspondences. This is a matter that you will have to address with them.

As previously mentioned, an exhaustive search has been conducted to locate any correspondence held by the Authority relating to your request. It is not the position of the Council that this represents all such correspondence that was entered into. It is however the Authority’s position that this is all of the requested information that is deemed to be held for the purpose of the Act. No held information of the type that you have requested has been withheld or destroyed since your request was received. It is entirely possible, indeed likely that a number of emails have been deleted prior to receiving your request, that relate to your enquiry. This is not contested by the Council but the fact remains that any such emails are not considered to be held for the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act.

Your request for information and subsequent request for internal review has already placed a substantial burden on the Authority. Every effort has been made to provide a full, open and honest response. The Council now considers that your request has been dealt with in accordance with the legislation under which it was made. Unless a complaint is submitted to the Information Commissioners Office the Authority considers this matter to be closed and will not enter into any further correspondence regarding this particular request.

Yours sincerely

Christina Cross
Head of ICT
Mid Devon District Council
Phoenix House,
Phoenix Lane,
Tiverton
Devon
EX16 6PP
01884 234912

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