Oil spills 23/8/10
Dear City of Edinburgh Council (CEC),
I am seeking information on the "oil spills" Lothian and Borders Police allege were present on the A8 and A702 on 23/8/10 and which they allege you cleaned up.
This is mentioned in two press releases http://www.lbp.police.uk/press_release/a... and http://www.lbp.police.uk/press_release/a...
This was an accusation lapped up by the mass media and has led to The Camp for Climate Action seeking to get to the bottom of the allegations http://climatecamp.org.uk/blog/2010/08/3...
Please provide the following information:
1) copies of any photographs of the "oil spills" which were taken by CEC staff
2) copies of any written reports compiled as a result of the attendance of CEC staff at these two "oil spills"
3) a summary of the communications, whether by telephone, radio or any other means, by which CEC staff were summoned to the "oil spills".
4) a copy of any analysis CEC has conducted or had conducted to determine the composition of the alleged oil spills. An example would be laboratory analysis of samples.
5) a summary table of the number of oil spills CEC has dealt with over the past five years, within 1km on either side of the alleged "oil spills". This information must be recorded by CEC. If this could be split by month that would be ideal, but if that would involve too much work quarterly would be fine.
Please note that "replies" which involve attachments in proprietary file formats are not acceptable. A reply which is not in plain text format will be deemed to be a refusal to answer. Photographs cannot be sent in text form, but a link to a JPEG or GIF image on the CEC web site would be fine.
I await your response.
Yours faithfully,
David Hansen
Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will get
back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Customer Services.
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email.
Dear Mr Hansen
Thank you for your request for information received on 06 September 2010.
Having assessed your request, I have decided that the information you
require is exempt under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
because it falls under the terms of the Environmental Information
(Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Your request will now be dealt with in accordance with the requirements of
the Environmental (Scotland) Information Regulations 2004. Please note
that under the terms of these regulations, your request must still be
dealt with within 20 working days.
If you are not happy with this response, or want to complain about the way
in which we handled your application, please write quoting our reference
number above, to The Head of Legal and Administrative Services, The City
of Edinburgh Council, Waverley Court, Business Centre 3.1, 4 East Market
Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG. E mail: [email address], within 40
working days of receipt of this letter, seeking a review of the response.
If, after you have received a reply from The Head of Legal and
Administrative Services, you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the Scottish
Information Commissioner to conduct a review. You can contact him at:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Phone: 01334 464610
Fax: 01334 464611
E-mail: [email address]
For further information on Freedom of Information, please phone us on 0131
200 2340.
Yours sincerely
Mark Francis
Contact Centre Manager
Freedom of Information, Level 1 Chesser House, 500 Gorgie Road, Edinburgh.
EH11 3YJ.
Tel: 0131 200 2340. Fax: 0131 200 2341. Email: [Edinburgh Council request email]
Dear Mr Hansen
Thank you for your request for information received on 06 September 2010.
I am dealing with your request in accordance with the Environmental
Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. This means that we must reply to
you within 20 working days of you requesting the information.
A response to your request for information will be sent to you promptly;
and in any event not later than 05 October 2010.
Your request may not result in us supplying the information you asked for
as the Regulations impose certain conditions and exemptions on the
information we may supply. If this is the case, we will let you know.
It is also possible that the information you request is controlled by
different legislation. Again, we will write to advise you of this.
Finally, we may have to charge for the information we give to you.
If you require further information please contact us on 0131 200 2340 or
visit www.itspublicknowledge.info
Yours sincerely
Mark Francis
Contact Centre Manager
Freedom of Information, Level 1 Chesser House, 500 Gorgie Road, Edinburgh.
EH11 3YJ.
Tel: 0131 200 2340. Fax: 0131 200 2341. Email: [Edinburgh Council request email]
Dear Mr Hensen
Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 - Provision of
Information.
Thank you for your request for information on 6 September 2010. I have
dealt with this in accordance with the Environmental Information
(Scotland) Regulations 2004 and enclose the information you requested.
Please find enclosed the information you asked for in points 1 to 5 of
your request.
(Q) Copies of any photographs of the "oil spills" which were taken
by CEC staff
(A) No photograhs were taken of the spill by CEC staff.
(Q) Copies of any written reports compiled as a result of the
attendance of CEC staff at these two "oil spills"
(A) No reports were filled out.
(Q) A summary of the communications, whether by telephone, radio or
any other means, by which CEC staff were summoned to the "oil
spills".
(A) CEC staff were present in Police HQ when the information came
through from L&B Traffic Section. A CEC representative was therefore
made aware of the situation directly after it was transmitted
by radio through to the Joint Agency Control Centre. A council
vehicle was deployed to the site to meet with a L&B Police patrol car to
indicate the location and extent of the spillage.
(Q) A copy of any analysis CEC has conducted or had conducted to
determine the composition of the alleged oil spills. An example
would be laboratory analysis of samples.
(A) No analysis carried out by CEC
(Q) A summary table of the number of oil spills CEC has dealt with
over the past five years, within 1km on either side of the alleged
"oil spills". This information must be recorded by CEC. If this
could be split by month that would be ideal, but if that would
involve too much work quarterly would be fine.
(A) Number of oil spills are not specifically recorded. Location
information may exist on hand written diaries recorded on by the
emergency out of hours squads, however this information is not recorded
in a way to easily retrieve the information over 5 years of daily
diary records.
If you are not happy with this response, or would like to complain about
the way in which we handled your application, please write quoting our
reference number above, to the Director of Corporate Services; The City
of Edinburgh Council, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh,
EH8 8BG, within 40 working days of receipt of this letter, seeking a
review of the response.
If, after you have received a reply from the Director of Corporate
Services, you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the Scottish Information
Commissioner to conduct a review. You can contact him at:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Phone: 01334 464610 Fax: 01334 464611
E-mail: [email address]
If you require further information please contact us on Tel: 0131 200
2340. Further information on the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland)
2002 can be obtained by visiting www.edinburgh.gov.uk
Yours sincerely
Annie Bent
Customer Service Officer
Roads (West Neighbourhood)
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