Payments in mitigation for construction impacts, Mill Road Bridge in Cambridge

Chris Smith made this Environmental Information Regulations request to Govia Thameslink Railway Limited
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This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was refused by Govia Thameslink Railway Limited.

Dear Sir/Madam

Contractors for Govia Thameslink are presently involved in works on Mill Road Bridge in Cambridge, which involves disruption to the local community due to construction impacts, such as noise, vibration and access restrictions.

As part of a mitigation plan, it is understood that the company has offered payment to support the local traders and community during this period based on the impacts of the disruption. These are believed to total upto £15 000 for Romsey and £15 000 for Petersfield, but it is not clear to whom the funding is being passed or how.

Please could you confirm the following information :

1. For what purposes were the payments offered ?
2. What the total maximum budget allocated for payment was ?
3. Who has or will receive payment and the amounts that will be paid to each party ?
4. What the criteria for eligibility for receiving funds and/or deciding applications are ?
5. Whether negotiation about these payment at any time involved representatives of the council, including employees or councillors ?
6. Whether payments have been made to any groups involving local councillors and if so the name of these groups ?
7. The date on which discussion about payments commenced ?
8. Any meeting minutes in which the payments are formally discussed or if overly onerous the dates of these meetings?
9. Any correspondence with groups with which payment has been discussed or if overly onerous a list of these groups ?

This information would be very helpful in understanding how the funding is being spent locally and its intended purposes.

Many thanks.

Best wishes

Chris

Comments,

Dear Sir/Madam

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. 

Please accept this acknowledgement as confirmation that we have received
your query, there is no need to chase us for a reply as we will get back
to you as soon as we can and our aim is to provide a full response within
10 working days. Please do not reply to this email.

You may also refer to our FAQs
at https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Kind regards

Southern Customer Relations

GTR Customer Services, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Mr Smith,

Thank you for your email.

Please be advised that we've referred your case to the relevant staff, and
will respond directly to you in due course.

We appreciate your patience and understanding while your case is being
looked into. If you have any separate queries in the meantime, please do
not hesitate to contact us again. 

 

Kind regards, 

 

Robert

Customer Relations Advisor

 

Neil Briggs, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Chris
Thank you for getting in contact regarding the work taking place at
Cambridge. 
The £15K budgets are being managed by Romsey Local councillor and
Petersfield local councillor for local events during the bridge closure.
If you would like further information, you are welcome to get in touch
with our Project Manager Bethany at the below address.
[]^
[email address][]^

Kind regards

Neil Briggs

HQ Customer Relations

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)

 

Email: [1][email address]

 

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Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Registered in England and Wales No. 07934306.

Registered office: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1
6EE

Head office: 1st & 2nd Floor, Monument Place, 24 Monument St, London EC3R
8AJ

This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed [2]here

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Dear Sir/Madam,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Govia Thameslink Railway Limited's handling of my FOI request 'Payments in mitigation for construction impacts, Mill Road Bridge in Cambridge'.

Except for #2, the following have not been addressed in my FOI request, and as such please could you confirm the following information :

1. For what purposes were the payments offered ?
2. What the total maximum budget allocated for payment was ?
3. Who has or will receive payment and the amounts that will be paid to each party ?
4. What the criteria for eligibility for receiving funds and/or deciding applications are ?
5. Whether negotiation about these payment at any time involved representatives of the council, including employees or councillors ?
6. Whether payments have been made to any groups involving local councillors and if so the name of these groups ?
7. The date on which discussion about payments commenced ?
8. Any meeting minutes in which the payments are formally discussed or if overly onerous the dates of these meetings?
9. Any correspondence with groups with which payment has been discussed or if overly onerous a list of these groups ?

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

Yours faithfully,

Chris Smith

Dear Sir/Madam

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. 

Please accept this acknowledgement as confirmation that we have received
your query. We have received a large number of enquiries as a result of
the national power outage which occurred on August 9th and so you may
experience a delay in receiving a response. We thank our customers for
their patience.

There is no need to chase us for a reply as we will get back to you as
soon as we can and our aim is to provide a full response within 20 working
days. Please do not reply to this email.

You may also refer to our FAQs
at https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Kind regards

Southern Customer Relations

Dear Mr Smith

Thanks for getting in touch regarding your Freedom of Information request.

Due to the nature of your complaint I have referred your comments to the
relevant department for review. 

As soon as more information is available you will be contacted.

I appreciate your taking the time to bring this to our attention.

  

Kind regards,

 

Jackie

Complex Cases Team

 

Neil Briggs, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Mr Smith
As a private organisation we are not obliged to comply with freedom of
information requests. These are only applicable for public bodies.
In response to your previous request for information, I submitted you with
the contact details for our project manager who may voluntarily provide
you with additional information. Unfortunately it may be the case that not
all of the information you quested is publicly available, therefore the
project manager may not have been able to fully answer your question.
Kind regards
 

Neil Briggs

HQ Customer Relations

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)

 

Email: [1][email address]

 

1475671778452_PastedImage

 

Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Registered in England and Wales No. 07934306.

Registered office: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1
6EE

Head office: 1st & 2nd Floor, Monument Place, 24 Monument St, London EC3R
8AJ

This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed [2]here

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.go-ahead.com/en/site-services...