Playgrounds closures, sell offs and playground budgets

The request was partially successful.

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request information on the following:

1. How many children’s playgrounds were managed by the local authority in each year from 2009-10?

2. How many children’s playgrounds have been closed in each year since 2009-10?

3. How many children’s playgrounds have been opened in each year since 2009-10?

4. How much local authority money has been spent on children’s playgrounds in each year since 2009-10?

5. How many children’s playgrounds are proposed for closure within the next year (ie 2019-20)?

5. How much do you propose to spend on children's playgrounds in 2019-20?

6. How many children's playgrounds have been sold off to private buyers since 2009-10, who were the buyers and how much were they sold for?

I would prefer the response electronically.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Booth

Stockton on Tees Council

1 Attachment

Dear Robert Booth

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations
2004 – Ref: 0075/1920

 

Thank you for your correspondence received on 05 April 2019

 

Your request is being considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (whichever is most
appropriate). You will receive the information requested within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days.

 

However, please note the Acts define a number of exemptions that may
prevent release of the requested information. There will therefore be an
assessment of your request to determine if any exemptions apply to the
information requested. If the information cannot be released, or only
released in part you will be informed of the reasons why, together with
any rights of appeal.

 

If the information requested refers to a third party, they may be
consulted before deciding whether it can be released.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LD

(01642) 527521

[1][email address]

[2]www.stockton.gov.uk

 

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FOI and Complaints, Stockton on Tees Council

1 Attachment

Dear Robert Booth

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Ref: 0075/1920

Thank you for your correspondence received on 05 April 2019. In response
to your request I can now provide the following information.

1.      How many children’s playgrounds were managed by the local
authority in each year from 2009-10?

 

Date Number
2009-2010 47
2010-2011 47
2011-2012 47
2012-2013 47
2013-2014 47
2014-2015 47
2015-2016 46
2016-2017 46
2017-2018 46
2018-2019 46

 

 

2.      How many children’s playgrounds have been closed in each year
since 2009-10?

 

Date Number
2009-2010 0
2010-2011 0
2011-2012 0
2012-2013 0
2013-2014 0
2014-2015 0
2015-2016 1
2016-2017 0
2017-2018 0
2018-2019 0

 

 

3.      How many children’s playgrounds have been opened in each year
since 2009-10?

 

Date Number
2009-2010 4
2010-2011 3
2011-2012 3
2012-2013 3
2013-2014 2
2014-2015 0
2015-2016 2
2016-2017 1
2017-2018 0
2018-2019 0

 

 

 

4.      How much local authority money has been spent on children’s
playgrounds in each year since 2009-10?

 

To comply with your request, we would be required to manually check
through thousands of individual job codes on the finance system as the
system in use does not hold information to the level of detail requested.
I can advise that we are unable to respond to this part of your request in
accordance with section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Section
12 states that the Council is not obliged to comply with a request for
information if it estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the
appropriate cost limit. The cost limit laid out in section 3(2) of the
Fees Regulations is set at £450 for Local Authorities. This must be
calculated at the rate of £25 per hour, providing an effective time limit
of 18 hours.

 

Regulation 4(3) of the Fees Regulations states that an authority, when
estimating whether complying with a request would exceed the appropriate
limit, can only take into account the costs it reasonably expects to incur
in:

o determining whether it holds the information;
o locating the information or documents containing it;
o retrieving the information, or documents containing it; and

extracting the information from any documents containing it.

 

 

5.      How many children’s playgrounds are proposed for closure within
the next year (ie 2019-20)?

 

None

 

6.      How much do you propose to spend on children's playgrounds in
2019-20?

 

See above response to Q4

 

7.      How many children's playgrounds have been sold off to private
buyers since 2009-10, who were the buyers and how much were they sold for?

 

None

 

 

 

If you have any queries or concerns please contact me in the first
instance.

 

However, if you are unhappy with the way your request for information has
been handled, you can submit a complaint to
[1][email address]

 

If, after your complaint has been determined, you remain dissatisfied with
the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to
the Information Commissioner at:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Website:
[2]www.ico.org.uk

 

The ICO does not make a charge for an appeal.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sarah McLaren

Information Governance Team

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LD

(01642) 527455

[3][email address]

[4]www.stockton.gov.uk

 

[5]CSE LOGO NEW

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.stockton.gov.uk/