Proposed pit site development – Cotgrave

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Cotgrave Town Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Ms Ellis

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act, that you make public the points and comments submitted to you by councillors and residents regarding the proposed pit site development.

It is my understanding that the Council is demonstrating some reluctance to release this information, and I believe it is in the Public Interest that you should be open and honest about the results of any public consultations you have conducted, and the opinions you have received from concerned members of your public.

I therefore look forward to receiving a response from you, within the next 20 days.

Yours faithfully,

Penny Bunn

ANN ELLIS,

I am currently on leave. I will reply to your email on my return on July 27th.

Clerk to Cotgrave Town Council,

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Bunn
Please see attached the notes from the consultation event held on 18th May.
I note that you have also written to me requesting this information.
I trust this email and its attachment is sufficient for your purposes, if
not please let me know.
regards
Mrs Ann Ellis
Town Clerk

----- Original Message -----
From: "Penny Bunn" <[FOI #42186 email]>
To: "FOI requests at Cotgrave Town Council" <[Cotgrave Town Council request email]>
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 6:08 PM
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Proposed pit site development –
Cotgrave

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Dear Clerk to Cotgrave Town Council,

I was disappointed to receive your response to my FOI request for the results of the Public Consultation re the proposed colliery site development. You seem to have sent me some very poorly written Minutes from a meeting held on 18th May. The Minutes do not provide the facts and figures that I would have expected from the advertised 'consultation' event that you claimed to be holding.

If you are going ahead with your proposals for building these homes in Cotgrave, you MUST by now have properly compiled and documented evidence from a properly conducted consultation process, if you are to present all the views collected to the Council in September.

I would hate to think that you MIGHT actually be guilty of wilfully withholding this information, and am therefore assuming that you misunderstood my original request.

I am therefore writing again, to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act, please, for the results of your Public Consultation (as you intend to submit to Rushcliffe Borough Council in September) to be forwarded to me, please.

I would appreciate a prompt response to this enquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Penny Bunn

Clerk to Cotgrave Town Council,

Dear Ms Bunn
I am sorry you considered the notes of the public event to be
disappointing - nevertheless - they are the notes I produced.

I am not sure from where or why you expected facts and figures. This council
is a statutory consultee and no more, whereas the Borough council, in its
capacity as planning authority, is responsible for the collation and
reproduction of data, in keeping with Planning law. This council`s
`consultation` event was designed to allow residents to express their
opinions. Having said that Rushcliffe Borough Council took many more
opinions from many more quarters which they published.

You state "If you are going ahead with your proposals for building these
homes........" - I repeat that this Council has no intentions of building
anything - only the principal authorities have the power to approve planning
applications or otherwise.

I totally refute your groundless allegation that I might be "guilty of
wilfully withholding this information". The information I provided you with
is exactly the same as that which I submitted to the Borough Council`s
Planning Officer, Andrea Baxter - you may wish to check this with her also.

I have provided the information you requested.

If you wish to appeal against this declaration, you should, in the first
place, contact the Chairman of this Councillor Andrew Wilkie.

If you continue to be dissatisfied you may contact Information
Commissioner`s Office
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.

regards
Mrs Ann Ellis
Town Clerk

----- Original Message -----
From: "Penny Bunn" <[FOI #42186 email]>
To: "Clerk to Cotgrave Town Council" <[email address]>
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 11:36 AM
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information reque st - Proposed pit site developme
nt – Cotgrave

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Dear Mrs Ellis

I thank you for your prompt response to my query, which I thought was needlessly rude and defensive, and not the kind of response I would have expected from someone in your position.

However, I will answer your points as best I can.

It is my understanding that the Town Council has played a key role in the decision-making process thus far, and I was therefore expecting that you would have access to more complete information than you have chosen to provide. The Minutes you sent through were completely inadequate, in my opinion, if they are supposed to be providing any kind of barometer of public feeling about the proposed development, and I therefore question the value of holding this supposed 'consultation' at all. I will, as you suggest, have a look at Rushcliffe's consultation, in hopes that the information gleaned from their own research into public opinion on this matter has at least been professionally recorded.

I also haven't made any allegations whatsoever, but very clearly stated in my letter to you that I was assuming you had misunderstood the nature of my request, rather than withholding information deliberately. Clearly, you don't actually HAVE any information that might be of help to me, and that is obviously the reason why you hoped the Minutes would suffice.

I appreciate that the Town Council itself is not intending to build any properties. My understanding, however, is that it has supported the proposed building plans, regardless of the strength of opposition from local residents; and that it has been less than enthusiastic about alternative proposals that have been put forward. I therefore assumed - obviously incorrectly - that you would, by now, be thinking about forwarding your own findings (and opinions) to Rushcliffe Borough Council, with a view to assisting in rushing these unwelcome plans through.

I struggle to believe that you have actually provided all the evidence you are intending to submit to Rushcliffe; one set of Minutes from one meeting is a pathetically small contribution for a town to make to a major Borough consultation, considering the size and scale of the development that is being proposed and its potential impact on this community.

If there is any further information that you can provide, under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, I would be pleased to receive it. I do not need to contact Mr Wilkie on this matter, thank-you. Please be assured that if it later comes to light that other information should have been forwarded in response to my FOIA request, I will be taking the matter up with rather more senior authorities, including (as you suggest) the Information Commissioner's Office.

Yours sincerely,

Penny Bunn