Property on Bognor Esplanade
Dear Arun District Council,
This relates to property on Bognor Regis Esplanade/Waterloo Square junction that was the site of a major fire in recent months.
1. With regard to this property or properties, which were/are owned by the Council?
2. Which were/are in the ownership of another party?
3. Which were the subject of a lease from the council to another party, and to whom? (name or company will suffice)
4. Were any the subject of negotiations/discussion re development within the past five years and with whom were the negotiations?
5. As regards 4, was there any proposal to develop discussed where the council would have been paid a fee based on a fixed percentage of the increase of property value occasioned by the development? If so, what fee was suggested by the council?
6. With regard to the properties which were derelict or not occupied, and for how long had this non-occupancy persisted?
7. Has there been any investigation by the Council as to the cause of the fire? Is it known whether it started in an occupied or unoccupied part of the properties? Has the Fire Service been able to conduct forensic investigations?
8. With regard to the property (ground-floor) leased as a fish-and-chip/similar catering business, when was its lease due to expire? Was the lease subject to an exemption under the Landlord and Tenancy legislation concerning lease renewal? Was there a negotiation etc in progress re the lease renewal? What was the current rent at the date of the fire and if there was negotiation what was the proposed rent?
9. Is it yet decided what will happen re these properties?
Yours faithfully,
Jan Cosgrove
Dear Mr Cosgrove
Thank you for your Information Request received on 5 August 2017.
REQUEST:
This relates to property on Bognor Regis Esplanade/Waterloo Square
junction that was the site of a major fire in recent months.
1. With regard to this property or properties, which were/are owned
by the Council?
2. Which were/are in the ownership of another party?
3. Which were the subject of a lease from the council to another
party, and to whom? (name or company will suffice)
4. Were any the subject of negotiations/discussion re development
within the past five years and with whom were the negotiations?
5. As regards 4, was there any proposal to develop discussed where
the council would have been paid a fee based on a fixed percentage of the
increase of property value occasioned by the development? If so, what
fee was suggested by the council?
6. With regard to the properties which were derelict or not
occupied, and for how long had this non-occupancy persisted?
7. Has there been any investigation by the Council as to the cause
of the fire? Is it known whether it started in an occupied or unoccupied
part of the properties? Has the Fire Service been able to conduct
forensic investigations?
8. With regard to the property (ground-floor) leased as a
fish-and-chip/similar catering business, when was its lease due to
expire? Was the lease subject to an exemption under the Landlord and
Tenancy legislation concerning lease renewal? Was there a negotiation
etc in progress re the lease renewal? What was the current rent at the
date of the fire and if there was negotiation what was the proposed rent?
9. Is it yet decided what will happen re these properties?
RESPONSE:
1. None
2. The (former) Beach Hotel
3. Arun District Council owns the freehold and let on a long lease.
Information is held at Land Registry, please contact them at:
[1]www.gov.uk.
4. The LPA have given pre-application advice relating to the site within
the last five years.
5. This information is Historical and no longer applicable
6. Arun District Council does not hold this information therefore the
information you have requested is not held for the purposes of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
7. Cause of Fire – No
No information is held regarding the other 2 questions
8. Regarding all questions - Arun District Council does not hold this
information, therefore the information you have requested is not held
for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
9. Arun District Council does not hold this information, therefore the
information you have requested is not held for the purposes of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
If you are dissatisfied with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can write asking for a review of the Council’s response,
within the next two months, to the Information Management Team at: Arun
District Council, Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, West
Sussex, BN17 5LF (email [2][Arun District Council request email]).
If, having exhausted our review procedure, you remain dissatisfied with
the handling of your request or complaint, you will have a right to appeal
to the Information Commissioner at: The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (telephone: 0303
123 1113; website [3]www.ico.org.uk). There is no charge for making an
appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Information Management Team
Arun District Council
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Information Management Team | [4]Arun District Council | |
| Location: First Floor, |
| |
| Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5LF |
| |
| Internal: 37709 | External: +44 (0) 1903 737709 | E-mail: |
| [5][Arun District Council request email] |
| |
| Visit Arun's web site at [6]www.arun.gov.uk P Save the environment - |
| think before you print. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[7]http://www.arun.gov.uk
NLPG UPRN 100062237016
DX 57406 Littlehampton
Important Notice This e-mail is intended exclusively for the addressee and
may contain information that is confidential and/or privileged. If you are
not the intended recipient (or authorised to receive it for the
addressee), please notify the sender and delete the e-mail immediately;
using, copying, or disclosing it to anyone else, is strictly prohibited
and may be unlawful. Any views, opinions or options presented are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Arun
District Council. The information in this e-mail may be subject to public
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, therefore we cannot
guarantee that we will not provide the whole or part of this e-mail to a
third party. The Council reserves the right to monitor e-mails in
accordance with relevant legislation. Whilst outgoing e-mails are checked
for viruses, we cannot guarantee this e-mail is virus-free or has not been
intercepted or changed and we do not accept liability for any damage
caused. Any reference to "e-mail" in this disclaimer includes any
attachments.
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References
Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[Arun District Council request email]
3. http://www.ico.org.uk/
4. http://www.arun.gov.uk/
5. mailto:[Arun District Council request email]
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7. http://www.arun.gov.uk/
Dear Infomanagement,
Thank you however I seriously question some of your replies and thus comment and ask further questions re the following as numbered in my request:
1. None, surely an error so I repeat which are/were in the ownership of ADC? If at 3 you can say Arun leases one of the properties one of them is owned by Arun.
2. You say the Beach Hotel is in the ownership of another party? Has Arun had dealings with the owner prior to the fire re the state of the premises? If so, in what capacity?
3. You have not answered this properly as I asked which of the properties was leased? Kindly answer what was asked.
4. That is NOT what I asked, though of interest. Kindly answer what was asked.
5. The information IS applicable to my question, historical or n ot. I do not recall there is an historical exemption. Kindly answer what was asked.
6. This is a nonsense answer. If ADC owned properties it will have known which of those were occupied, which were derelict, also if not owned, there would have been records re business rates. Kindly answer what was asked.
7. The Council OWNED properties and has not investigated the cause of a major FIRE????? This is a nonsense. WHY has there been no investigation? Please do give an official reason for this.
8. This is straightforward evasion. If this was the fish and chip premises, the lease was due to expire, as I am informed, five days after the fire. If Arun held the lease, there will be record of this in your deposit store and that will state whether or not there was such an exemption under L&T legislation. Kindly answer what was asked.
9. You owned burnt-out properties in a very public area and you do not know whether you have decided their future. Kindly answer what was asked.
Yours sincerely,
Jan Cosgrove
Dear Infomanagement,
Please note the answers you gave in this FoI request dated 21 October 2016:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
In this you stated you own 2,3 6 & 8 Waterloo Square and Former Beach Hotel, G/F Restaurant & First Floor Night Club. These are the properties which are the subject of my current FoI so your answers have discrepancies with what has been stated earlier. Please clarify, this is very concerning.
Regarding Former Beach Hotel, G/F Restaurant & First Floor Night Club, please confirm that you own the G/F Restaurant. If so, was this leased to The Mud Club or was it a direct lease to the restaurant proprietor? Did the Md Club lease permit sub-leasing?
Yours sincerely,
Jan Cosgrove
Dear Infomanagement,
This simply will not do.
Here are my questions, your answers and my observations, and a requirement that you answer properly:
1. With regard to this property or properties, which were/are owned
by the Council?
1. None
Sheer nonsense, contradicted by you at 2&3. Why have you said 'none'?
2. Which were/are in the ownership of another party?
2. The (former) Beach Hotel .
Is the Beach Hotel owned by the Council and leased to Brook Bros ?
Also was it leased prior to October 2016 to company owned by Jamie Bristow and did dthat lease get sold onto Company owned by Brook bros?
3. Which were the subject of a lease from the council to another
party, and to whom? (name or company will suffice)
3. Arun District Council owns the freehold and let on a long lease.
Information is held at Land Registry, please contact them at:
[1]www.gov.uk.
Checked and owned by Co belonging to 3 members of Brook family, based in Hants- please confirm
4. Were any the subject of negotiations/discussion re development
within the past five years and with whom were the negotiations?
4. Were any the subject of negotiations/discussion re development
within the past five years and with whom were the negotiations?
That is NOT what was asked, please answer. There have been a number of planning consents etc on that site over some years, not put into effect.
5. As regards 4, was there any proposal to develop discussed where
the council would have been paid a fee based on a fixed percentage of the
increase of property value occasioned by the development? If so, what
fee was suggested by the council?
5. This information is Historical and no longer applicable,
That is sheer avoidance, unless you can show me such an exemption re FoI law, quoting precisely grounds, please just answer the question
6. With regard to the properties which were derelict or not
occupied, and for how long had this non-occupancy persisted?
6. Arun District Council does not hold this information therefore the
information you have requested is not held for the purposes of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
YOU DO NOT KNOW which of YOUR properties were derelict /occupied or not? I find that hard to believe, please review that response, simply in such a prime location it is an incredible admission
7. Has there been any investigation by the Council as to the cause
of the fire? Is it known whether it started in an occupied or unoccupied
part of the properties? Has the Fire Service been able to conduct
forensic investigations?
7. Cause of Fire – No
But has Arun done what I have done and called for their formal report at least, had you seen that? Link:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...
Did Arun take any action at all. officer visits, contact with Fire Service, contact with leaseholder, contact with cafe tenant.
Are you aware there is pending court action re the cafe tenancy which ended March 2017 after refusal to grant new tenancy by leaseholder?
You: No information is held regarding the other 2 questions
8. With regard to the property (ground-floor) leased as a
fish-and-chip/similar catering business, when was its lease due to
expire? Was the lease subject to an exemption under the Landlord and
Tenancy legislation concerning lease renewal? Was there a negotiation
etc in progress re the lease renewal? What was the current rent at the
date of the fire and if there was negotiation what was the proposed rent?
8. Regarding all questions - Arun District Council does not hold this
information, therefore the information you have requested is not held
for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
You appear very casual about a notable property owned by you which burnt to the ground! No information about anything!!????
9. Is it yet decided what will happen re these properties?
9. Arun District Council does not hold this information, therefore the
information you have requested is not held for the purposes of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The Council does not know if it knows or not what will happen to the property? This has to be some leg pull, you are having a Turkish. An African (giraffe, going extinct). Either you know or you don't.
I will observe that responses on a facebook page I run from local people talk of corruption, is the Council not aware of the awful impression it is giving by its whole response? A major seafront property PUBLICLY owned by Arun which went up in a spectacular blaze on a night of a huge storm and torrential rain, and from what you have replied to date, seemingly not of much concern at Arun.....
As I said at the start, reply as you are supposed to, with information not evasion bordering on the very questionable.
Yours sincerely,
Jan Cosgrove
Dear Infomanagement,
Sorry your 4 should read
4. The LPA have given pre-application advice relating to the site within
the last five years.
Yours sincerely,
Jan Cosgrove
Dear Mr Cosgrove,
I write further to your emails of 22 October 2017, the contents of which
have been noted.
Your emails have been dealt with as a request for the Council’s responses
to be reviewed, by way of an internal review, in accordance with the
Information Commissioner’s guidance issued under section 45 of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000. Ordinarily your follow up questions would be
logged as a separate information request, however on this occasion I will
deal with all of your questions within this internal review to avoid
unnecessary confusion.
Please be advised that under Section 21 of the Freedom of the Information
Act 2000 information which is reasonably accessible elsewhere is exempt
information. Information may be reasonably accessible to you even though
it is accessible only on payment. This is an absolute exemption which
means there is no requirement to carry out a public interest test if the
requested information is exempt. I advise you of this as a large number of
your questions can be answered by obtaining copies of documentation from
the Land Registry which is available to the public here
[1]www.landregistry.gov.uk . The answers below which signpost you to the
Land Registry are reliant on this section 21 exemption.
I have conducted a full review of the Council’s previous responses
provided to you and discussed these with the Property and Estates
Department. Please find answers to both your initial questions and follow
up questions written in red below.
REQUEST
This relates to property on Bognor Regis Esplanade/Waterloo Square
junction that was the site of a major fire in recent months.
1. With regard to this property or properties, which were/are owned by
the Council?
6-8 Waterloo Square, 2-4 Waterloo Square and the Beach Hotel
2. Which were/are in the ownership of another party?
All of the above properties are leased to other parties under long leases
which are registered at the Land Registry and readily available to you on
their website.
2(a). You say the Beach Hotel is in the ownership of another party. Has
Arun had dealings with the owner prior to the fire re the state of the
premises? If so, then in what capacity?
No.
2(b). Is the Beach Hotel owned by the Council and leased to Brook Bros?
Also, was it leased prior to October 2016 to company owned by Jamie
Bristow and did that lease get sold onto company owned by Brook Bros?
As mentioned above, the freehold is owned by the Council and leased to
another party. All leases over seven years are registerable at the Land
Registry and you can therefore obtain the information you require from
their website.
3. Which were the subject of a lease from the council to another party,
and to whom? (name or company will suffice)
As mentioned above, all of the above properties are under leasehold
ownership and details can be acquired from the Land Registry.
3(a). Checked Land Registry and owned by Co. belonging to 3 members of
Brook family, based in Hants – please confirm.
Land Registry records are up to date.
4. Were any the subject of negotiations/discussion re development within
the past five years and with whom were the negotiations?
2-4 Waterloo Square and the Beach Hotel. Both are subject to discussion
regarding works with the leaseholder. Negotiations are ongoing and
therefore commercially sensitive under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
Information is exempt if its disclosure would, or would be likely to,
prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public
authority holding it). The Council relies on the lower threshold of ‘would
be likely to’ in applying this prejudice test.
This exemption is a qualified exemption, meaning that the public interest
test needs to be applied. The Council has considered factors in favour of
disclosure, which includes transparency and accountability, and factors
against disclosure which includes competition. There is a public interest
in allowing public authorities to withhold information which if disclosed,
would reduce its ability to negotiate or compete in a commercial
environment. As a result, the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs disclosure.
5. As regards 4, was there any proposal to develop discussed where the
council would have been paid a fee based on a fixed percentage of the
increase of property value occasioned by the development? If so, what
fee was suggested by the Council?
Beach Hotel – see lease held at the Land Registry. This lease includes a
valuation methodology for potential development.
No for other properties.
6. With regard to the properties which were derelict or not occupied, and
for how long had this non-occupancy persisted?
Please find below the property addresses and the date from which the
Council has been advised that they became vacant:-
1 Pier View House 10.08.2010
2 Pier View House 12.11.2012
3 Pier View House 15.07.2008
4 Pier View House 09.09.2015
5 Pier View House Occupied
2 Waterloo Square 02.10.2009
4 Waterloo Square 20.10.2009
6-8 Waterloo Square (G/F) 30.10.2012
7. Has there been any investigation by the Council as to the cause of the
fire? Is it known whether it started in an occupied or unoccupied part
of the properties? Has the Fire Service been able to conduct forensic
investigations?
No investigation was undertaken by the Council. This is the responsibility
of West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service so please direct questions to them.
I note from your next question that you have their contact details.
7(a). Has Arun done what I have done and called for their formal report at
least, had you seen that? Link:
[2]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...
No.
7(b). Did Arun take any action at all. Officer visits, contact with Fire
Service, contact with leaseholder, contact with café tenant?
The Council were in contact with the Fire Service as part of emergency
control centre at the time of the fire. The Council worked with the
leaseholder afterwards. The Council would not be in contact with the café
tenant because they are not the Council’s tenant - they are the
leaseholder’s tenant.
7(c). Are you aware there is pending court action re the café tenancy
which ended March 2017 after refusal to grant new tenancy by leaseholder?
Yes.
8. With regard to the property (ground-floor) leased as a
fish-and-chip/similar catering business, when was its lease due to
expire? Was the lease subject to an exemption under the Landlord and
Tenancy legislation concerning lease renewal? Was there a negotiation
etc. in progress re the lease renewal? What was the current rent at the
date of the fire and if there was negotiation what was the proposed rent?
A copy of the lease can be obtained from the Land Registry. Not the
Council’s lease to grant – you would need to speak to the leaseholder.
Agreement between leaseholder and their tenant (Fish and Chip premises).
9. Is it yet decided what will happen re these properties? Please note the
answers you gave in this FOI request dated 1 October 2016:
[3]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
Undecided, no decision made.
9(a). Regarding former Beach Hotel, G/F Restaurant & First Floor Night
Club, please confirm that you own the G/F Restaurant. If so, was this
leased to The Mud Club or was it a direct lease to the restaurant
proprietor? Did the Mud Club lease permit sub-leasing?
G/F restaurant is part of the freehold demise – see Land Registry for
lease.
As I have concluded the internal review of your information request you
now have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner if you remain
dissatisfied with the way in which the Council has handled your request.
Appeals should be directed to the Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (telephone: 0303
123 1113). More details can be found on the website [4]www.ico.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
April Heasman
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| April Heasman |Junior Solicitor, Legal Services Department, [5]Arun |
|District Council | Location: First Floor, Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers |
| Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5LF |
| Internal: 37623 | External: +44 (0) 1903 737623| E-mail: |
| [6][email address] |
| |
| Visit Arun's web site at [7]www.arun.gov.uk P Save the environment - |
| think before you print. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[8]http://www.arun.gov.uk
NLPG UPRN 100062237016
DX 57406 Littlehampton
Important Notice This e-mail is intended exclusively for the addressee and
may contain information that is confidential and/or privileged. If you are
not the intended recipient (or authorised to receive it for the
addressee), please notify the sender and delete the e-mail immediately;
using, copying, or disclosing it to anyone else, is strictly prohibited
and may be unlawful. Any views, opinions or options presented are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Arun
District Council. The information in this e-mail may be subject to public
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, therefore we cannot
guarantee that we will not provide the whole or part of this e-mail to a
third party. The Council reserves the right to monitor e-mails in
accordance with relevant legislation. Whilst outgoing e-mails are checked
for viruses, we cannot guarantee this e-mail is virus-free or has not been
intercepted or changed and we do not accept liability for any damage
caused. Any reference to "e-mail" in this disclaimer includes any
attachments.
**********************************************************************
References
Visible links
1. http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/
2. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...
3. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
4. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
5. http://www.arun.gov.uk/
6. mailto:[email address]
7. blocked::blocked::http://www.arun.gov.uk/ blocked::http://www.arun.gov.uk/
file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.arun.gov.uk/
8. http://www.arun.gov.uk/
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