Planning enforcement notices Haddo Quarry/Craigmuir Wood (quarry)

The request was refused by Aberdeenshire Council.

Dear Aberdeenshire Council,

Please provide details of all planning enforcement notices issued in respect of sand and gravel extraction at the site formerly known as Haddo Quarry, AB41 7NE.

As you are probably aware the former site has been split in two, I wish to receive the planning enforcement notice(s) for the part of the former site which does not have any current planning approval for sand and gravel extraction. I believe this site is called Craigmuir Wood.

Please also provide me with all correspondence between Aberdeenshire Council and the owners and agents of the side of the former Haddo Quarry which does not currently have planning permission for sand and gravel extraction.

Yours faithfully,

James McWilliam

ISFOI, Aberdeenshire Council

Dear Mr McWilliam

 

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Notice of Refusal

 

We refer to your request for information dated 24 April 2017 which has
been handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002.  For ease of reference your request is replicated below together
with our response.

 

“Please provide details of all planning enforcement notices issued in
respect of sand and gravel extraction at the site formerly known as Haddo
Quarry, AB41 7NE”

 

For clarity, in terms of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997
as amended, taking enforcement action is defined as issuing;

-          An enforcement notice

-          A breach of condition notice

-          A notice requiring application for planning permission for
development already carried out (a Section 33A Notice)

Aberdeenshire Council as the Planning Authority have to date not taken any
Enforcement Action in relation to the Haddo Quarry and as such no
enforcement notices have been served. The Planning Authority have served a
Planning Contravention Notice (PCN) as per section 125 of the Act which
confers to the Planning Authority the power to require information about
activities on the land where a breach of planning control is suspected.
The Planning Authority need not keep a copy of a PCN on the public
Planning Enforcement Register.

 

Details of the justification for service of the PCN, the date it was
served and a summary of the response provided by the subject of said
notice were provided to you in our letter dated 9 March 2017 and
subsequent email dated 29 March 2017. Our investigation into activities at
this site are ongoing.

 

“I wish to receive the planning enforcement notice(s) for the part of the
former site which does not have any current planning approval for sand and
gravel extraction. I believe this site is called Craigmuir Wood.”

 

We refer you to our response above.  No enforcement notices have been
served in relation to the site adjacent to Craigmuir Wood.

 

“Please also provide me with all correspondence between Aberdeenshire
Council and the owners and agents of the side of the former Haddo Quarry
which does not currently have planning permission for sand and gravel
extraction”

 

We confirm that the Council holds the information that you have requested.
 We have considered your request, but are of the opinion that the
exemption under the following section of the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 applies to the information requested:

 

Section 34(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 -
Investigations by Scottish Public Authorities:

(1)    Information is exempt information if it has at any time been held
by a Scottish public authority  for the purposes of—

(a)    an investigation which the authority has a duty to conduct to
ascertain whether a person—

(i)      should be prosecuted for an offence; or

(ii) prosecuted for an offence is guilty of it;

(b)   an investigation, conducted by the authority, which in the
circumstances may lead to a decision by the authority to make a report to
the procurator fiscal to enable it to be determined whether criminal
proceedings should be instituted; or

(c)    Criminal proceedings instituted in consequence of a report made by
the authority to the procurator fiscal.

The information you request is held for the purpose of allowing a thorough
investigation into ascertaining whether any significant material breach of
planning control has occurred and whether, ultimately, this will require
to be reported to the Procurator Fiscal for consideration.

 

This exemption is a non-absolute exemption.  However, in all the
circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining this
exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing this information to
you because it is the considered view of the Planning Service that
disclosing the exempt information at this time could materially hinder
appropriate investigations into the above matters.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which we have dealt with your
request, you may require Aberdeenshire Council to review this decision. 
Details of the procedure are attached.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

Infrastructure Services

 

 

 

 

Further Information:

Aberdeenshire Council’s Review Procedure under the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/council-...

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Aberdeenshire Council.
www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

James McWilliam

Dear Aberdeenshire Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Aberdeenshire Council's handling of my FOI request 'Planning enforcement notices Haddo Quarry/Craigmuir Wood (quarry)'.

I cannot see why the details of any planning enforcement notice have to be kept secret.

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,

James McWilliam

Acknowledge email, Aberdeenshire Council

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your information request.

If you are making a request for information under FOI(S)A we will respond
within the statutory timeframe of 20 working days.

If you are making a request for environmental information under EIRs we
will aim to respond within 20 working days. However for requests of a
complex nature it could take us up to 40 working days. If so we will write
and tell you this within 5 working days of receipt.
If you are making a request for information under DPA we will respond
within the statutory timeframe of 40 calendar days, following receipt of
the necessary fee.

Regards,
Aberdeenshire Information Enquiries

FOI Reviews, Aberdeenshire Council

Dear

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REVIEW REQUEST

 

I write to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 16 May, 2017,
requesting a review of the Council’s response to your request for
information relating to Haddo Quarry/Craigmuir Wood.

 

The Council’s Internal Review Procedure provides for a Review Panel of
senior officers to consider written submissions from both sides.  If there
is anything more you wish to put before the Review Panel in addition to
the comments in your review request, please let me have that as soon as
possible.  You are entitled to have the decision of the Review Panel sent
to you within 20 working days of my receipt of your email.  That means my
reply with the decision of the Review Panel has to be sent by 13 June
2017.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clerk to Review Panel

This e-mail may contain privileged information intended solely for the use
of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this
e-mail in error, please accept our apologies and notify the sender,
deleting the e-mail afterwards. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the e-mail's author and do not necessarily represent those of
Aberdeenshire Council.
www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Ann Riddell, Aberdeenshire Council

1 Attachment

ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL

 

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002  (“The Act”)

 

 

Dear Mr McWilliam

 

In accordance with section 21(1) of the Act, the Review Panel of
Aberdeenshire have considered your application for a Requirement for
Review received by Aberdeenshire Council on 16 May 2017.

 

In accordance with section 21(5) of the Act, the Review Panel herewith
gives Notice in writing, that it considers that the original decision
complained about was a correct decision. 

 

The Review Panel therefore write to inform you that the original decision
is being upheld.

 

A statement of the reasons for the decision as required by Section 21(5)
of the Act is appended.

 

 

Application for a decision by the Scottish Information Commissioner:

 

By virtue of Section 47 of the Act, a person who is dissatisfied with a
Decision Notice issued under Section 21 (5) or (9) of the Act, may apply
to the Scottish Information Commissioner for his decision as to whether,
in any respect specified in that application, the request for information
under section 1(I) of the Act, has been dealt with in accordance with Part
1 of the Act.

 

An application to the Scottish Information Commissioner must be made in
writing (or in another form having some permanency e.g. a video/tape
recording) within six months of receipt of a section 21 Decision Notice
from Aberdeenshire Council’s Review Panel.  When applying to the Scottish
Information Commissioner to make a decision with respect to the section 21
Decision Notice, you must state your name and address for correspondence. 

 

You must also specify:-

 

a)    the request for information to which the Requirement for Review
which was made to Aberdeenshire Council relate;

b)    the matter which gives rise to your dissatisfaction and your request
for review; and

c)   the matter which gives rise to your dissatisfaction pertaining to the
decision given in the section 21 Decision Notice.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

 

Clerk to Review Panel

Aberdeenshire Council

9^th June 2017

 

FURTHER INFORMATION:

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:-

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9BS

 

Telephone       01334 464610

Fax                  01334 464611

Email               [1][email address]

 

Appeals Against a Decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner:

 

Section 56 of the Act provides that an appeal on a point of law may be
made to the Court of Session:

 

a)    against a decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner (under
subsection (2) of section 49 – i.e. where the Commissioner determines that
a decision does not require to be made) by the person who applied to the
Scottish Information Commissioner to make such a decision (i.e. an
applicant);

b)    against a decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner (under
subsection 3(b) of section 49) by an applicant or by the Scottish Public
Authority in respect of which the decision was made or

c)    against a decision which resulted in the giving of an information
notice or an enforcement notice to a Scottish Public Authority.   

 

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of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this
e-mail in error, please accept our apologies and notify the sender,
deleting the e-mail afterwards. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the e-mail's author and do not necessarily represent those of
Aberdeenshire Council.
www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

References

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Frances Brown, Aberdeenshire Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr McWilliam,

 

With reference to the FOI Request regarding Planning Enforcement Notices
for Haddo Quarry/Craigmuir Wood and the review panel decision which was
issued to you on 9 June, 2017 we have received notification that the
position has since changed and as such we can now able to release the
information that you previously requested.

 

While the case was still live at the time the review request was
considered, following further investigation of the Permitted Development
Regulations and consultation with the Scottish Government on the
applicability of those regulations to this case, they had established that
the activities at the subject site, which were previously considered to be
a breach of planning control, are now considered to be permitted
development. As such we have proceeded to close this case and no further
formal enforcement action is to be pursued.

 

As this case is now closed the Planning Enforcement Team have confirmed
that the previously withheld information can now be released as per the
initial FOI request as to do so would no longer be prejudicial to the
success of any investigation or prosecution.

 

As such, please find attached correspondence received from the Planning
Enforcement team which was submitted to us as part of your review request.

 

Kind regards

 

Frances

 

Frances Brown / Committee Officer

Business Services / Legal & Governance

Aberdeenshire Council / Woodhill House

Westburn Road / Aberdeen / AB16 5GB

 

Tel:  01467 532862  (internal 7612862)

Mobile:  07766361714

Email:  [1][email address]

Local Review Body Email: 
[2][email address]

 

Website:  [3]http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/

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References

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2. mailto:[email address]
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