Property and Assets and Buildings
Dear Organisation,
I would like to know a full list of Vacant Properties held by your organisation and any of its subsidiaries.
If possible their market value for sale or to let, whether they would be considered for a community asset transfer, if not then whether they are for sale or to let. In a clear and easy to read format. It would be supportive if the property is for sale or to let that it is listed on here too: https://e-pims.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/gove... and that you inform us of this intention or such listing in the request.
In the previous case in Voyias v IC and LB Camden (EA/201v1/0007), the requesters asked for substantially similar information, and the judge favoured disclosure. I appreciate the circumstances here are quite different, but the same principles should apply.
I understand there is a risk that your empty properties would be targeted by squatters should this the list of empty properties be public, but this is a very slim risk. The prejudice to law enforcement should be real, likely and substantial, as per Hogan v the ICO and Oxford City Council. I can assure you that my request is not sent in order to cause trouble for the authority, it is predominantly for my own research, with publication as part of campaigning materials. I am concerned at the sale of public assets, not a not an advocate for their illegal occupation. I would also say that I cannot imagine the disclosure of this list of properties to significantly affect a squatting problem that pre-existed my interest in the organisation. Overall the prejudice to law enforcement is very slim, and not severe. Since 12 months will be the time that this information will be released onto this site, unless others request this information separately. The requester is not liable for any issues that may arise in between or after.
It is in the public interest and transparency that this information is made publicly available under the public sector duty under the equality act allowing people to know of this information and make use of it under the Community Asset Transfer scheme and under the Human Rights Act Article 11 enabling the community to gather and make decisions on the allocation of such assets.
Yours faithfully,
Viran Patel
Our Ref. GA7862
Dear Viran
Thank you for your request for information.
Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.
If you have any queries about this request, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
Access to Information Requests
Access Team
Information Governance Unit
Staffordshire County Council
2 Staffordshire Place
Stafford
ST16 2DH
Email: [email address]
Telephone: 01785 278178
Dear Viran Patel
Thank you for your request for information.
Please find information provided by the relevant service area(s) set out below / attached.
Our policy is that any site can potentially be a community asset transfer, this is subject to the localism act 2011 and any registration of interest by a party of interest where appropriate and relevant to that property. We then treat these accordingly, as per legislation, to allow for the suitable business case to be developed and for the County Council to consider any offer proposed.
I can confirm that we do publish our assets on the epimms website, generally with a refresh on 01/04 each year. The ability to publish this information to the wider public is only something that has recently been enabled and we have already been in communication with epimms in order to publish this data to the general public. This is something that should be actioned fairly soon subject to epimms enabling this function on our data.
The attached list is the most recent status of our assets, so wouldn’t necessarily match that on the epimms web site. We do also publish our data on our own intranet under the transparency links, so the data is available as published on the 01/04/2018.
Many of these, although vacant and not on the market/to let, are subject to further business cases, held for development projects or already within a contract for disposal. All properties offered for sale or to let are dealt with via the open market. Market values are only obtained at the point a property is offered to the open market.
If you have any queries or require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you have any comments relating to how your request has been handled by our authority you should contact us in the first instance. Send your comment or complaint to:
Lian Stibbs, Access Manager, Information Governance, Information Governance Unit, Staffordshire County Council, 1 Staffordshire Place, Stafford ST16 2DH
or email [email address]
If you then have any further comments relating to how your request has been handled by our authority, please contact the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Regards
David Portch
Information Governance Unit
Staffordshire County Council
1 Staffordshire Place
Stafford
ST16 2DH
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