S106 discussions regarding F/YR21/0981/F
Dear Fenland District Council,
Please could you provide me with (a) any correspondence between officers and the applicant (or their representatives/agent) in the course of progressing the application F/YR21/0981/F since the 2023 planning meeting where the application has been determined, including discussions in trying to reach agreement on the S106 document, and (b) any emails between officers and councillors relating to this application since the 2023 planning meeting where this was determined?
Many thanks,
Lawrence Weetman
Dear Lawrence Weetman
Thank you for your request for information which was received on 12/04/24
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.
As required by the legislation, we aim to answer your request within 20
working days from the date we received it. If for any reason we are unable
to meet this deadline, we will keep you fully informed of the reasons for
this.
If you have any queries about this email, please contact
[1][email address]. Please remember to quote the reference number above
in any future communications.
Yours faithfully,
Freedom of Information Officer
01354 654321
[2]www.fenland.gov.uk
[3]Medium logo 2008 cmyk
How did we do? Visit our website to [4]have your say
E-mails and any attachments from Fenland District Council (the Council)
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2. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/
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Dear foi,
Thanks for acknowledging my request. I just wanted to clarify that I think this should come under the remit of the Environmental Information Regulations rather than FOI, since it relates to development on natural greenspace and biodiversity issues.
I understand that the EIR come with stricter disclosure requirements and stricter rules on timescales and extensions.
Yours sincerely,
Lawrence Weetman
Dear foi,
I haven't had a response to this request, and the 20 day window for a response under the EIR passed on Monday.
Yours sincerely,
Lawrence Weetman
Dear Fenland District Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Fenland District Council's handling of my FOI request 'S106 discussions regarding F/YR21/0981/F'.
The council is currently in breach of the EIR:
Under the EIR, you have a duty to inform the requester whether you hold the requested information and, if so, to communicate the information to them ‘as soon as possible, and no later than 20 working days after the date of receipt of the request.’ [Regulation 5(2)]
The EIR also specify that you have a duty to comply with the following regulations ‘as soon as possible and no later than 20 working days after the date of receipt of the request’:
Regulation 6(2)(a) – requirement for you to explain why you cannot make information available in the form or format requested.
Regulation 7(1)(3) – requirement to notify the requester that you need an extension of time to deal with a request that is complex and voluminous.
Regulation 9(2)(a) – requirement to offer advice and assistance where a request has been formulated in too general a manner.
Regulation 14(2) – requirement to issue a refusal notice when a request is being refused.
Unlike the Freedom of Information Act, there is no provision to extend the time for compliance to further consider the public interest test, nor do the EIR make any provision for variations to the time limits for certain categories of information or types of organisation.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...
Please can you urgently fulfil this request without further delay?
Yours faithfully,
Lawrence Weetman
Dear Mr Weetman
Thank you for your request for information which was received on
05/06/24. We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
As required by the legislation, we aim to answer your request within 20
working days from the date we received it. If for any reason we are unable
to meet this deadline, we will keep you fully informed of the reasons for
this.
If you have any queries about this email, please contact
[1][email address]. Please remember to quote the reference number above
in any future communications.
Yours faithfully,
Freedom of Information Officer
01354 654321
[2]www.fenland.gov.uk
[3]Medium logo 2008 cmyk
How did we do? Visit our website to [4]have your say
E-mails and any attachments from Fenland District Council (the Council)
are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the
sender immediately by replying to the e-mail, and then delete it without
making copies or using it in any other way or placing any reliance on it..
It is not intended that this e-mail shall constitute either an offer or
acceptance nor is it intended to form a contract between the Council and
the addressee or any third party.
Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the sender and do not
necessarily represent those of the Council unless otherwise specifically
stated. Although any attachments to the message will have been checked for
viruses before transmission, you are urged to carry out your own virus
check before opening attachments, since the Council accepts no
responsibility for loss or damage caused by software viruses.
Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that, under the data
protection legislation such as UK GDPR, the Freedom of Information Act
2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and other related
legislation, the contents of e-mails may have to be disclosed in response
to a request.
To provide you with our services we will need to record personal
information, such as your e-mail address. This information will be kept
securely and only accessed by approved staff. We will not share your
information with anyone else without first telling you. If you would like
more details about how we protect personal information, then please
contact our Data Protection Officer or visit our privacy notice page.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/
4. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/threecs
Dear foi,
I am confused as to why I have had an email saying that my request was dated 5th June and that you're now looking into it?
This request was submitted on 12th April 2024. You sent an email on 15th April 2024, and the request should have been fulfilled by 13th May 2024. Given this is an Environmental Information Regulations request, there are only very limited valid reasons for a delay beyond the 20 day period and this delay is absolutely unacceptable - especially given that it appears a final decision notice relating to this planning application appears to be imminent.
I have raised this matter with the ICO, and would ask that the council makes it a priority to respond in full TODAY, and at least prior to the issuance of a decision notice for this application.
Yours sincerely,
Lawrence Weetman
Dear Mr Weetman
Thank you for your email of 7th June 2024. I apologise for any confusion caused by my last email. That email was intended to log and respond to your additional request for the following information on 17th May 2024:
I note that the published S106 agreement says that the site at Gaul Road will deliver 18.98% Biodiversity Net Gain. The officer report says that the scheme, at the time of approval, will offer a 5.80% scheme overall based on the council's own figures. The Wildlife Trust was clear that the baseline habitats had been miscategorised. Their independent analysis was that this development will deliver a net biodiversity loss of around 32%. –
What has changed that gives the council the confidence that the site will deliver 18.98% improvement overall?
I see no documentation on the planning portal that outlines such a scheme, but such a scheme should have been approved as part of the planning process (which involves public consultation). The council should note that user guidance for the BNG metric tool is clear that the hedgerow BNG metric and the area BNG metric are separate concepts and CANNOT be averaged.
Has this S106 agreement been approved by the planning committee? - If so, does the committee consider it acceptable that the Biodiversity Losses are not compensated until only just before the last house is occupied?
What safeguards are in place that will prevent the applicant simply not occupying the final house, only delivering 92 homes, or any winding up of the developer before the BNG provisions are met? A decision notice should not be issued until the planning committee has had a chance to consider these important matters.
We will now deal with that under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
The date by which a response should be provided is [xxx] and we will endeavour to meet that deadline however we were unfortunately only notified of the request this week. We will write to you again if we are unable to fulfil the request within that timescale.
Freedom of Information Officer
01354 654321
www.fenland.gov.uk
How did we do? Visit our website to have your say
Dear Mr Weetman
Re: FOI 10300
Thank you for your email of 12/04/24 where you requested the following
information which we have considered under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIR):
“Please could you provide me with (a) any correspondence between officers
and the applicant (or their representatives/agent) in the course of
progressing the application F/YR21/0981/F since the 2023 planning meeting
where the application has been determined, including discussions in trying
to reach agreement on the S106 document, and (b) any emails between
officers and councillors relating to this application since the 2023
planning meeting where this was determined?”
We apologise for the delay in being able to provide you with a response
and thank you for your patience in waiting to hear from us. Having now
had an opportunity to consider your request, we are writing to confirm
that whilst we do hold some information which falls within the scope of
your requests, no disclosures can be made. Please find attached.
The information you requested is being withheld because it falls under the
following exemptions:
Regulation 12(4)(d) The request is for unfinished documents.
Regulation 12(5)(e) Confidentiality of commercial information where there
is an expectation of confidence.
Regulation 13 The request contains the personal data of 3^rd
parties.
The information that Fenland District Council holds which falls within the
scope of your request are a series of emails between Fenland District
Council’s legal representatives and the applicant’s legal
representatives. The purpose of these emails was to facilitate the
instruction being made, to agree the cost of the drafting, to monitor
progress of the matter and to ultimately agree a final draft of the s.106
agreement with suggested amendments being made. We do not hold any emails
between officers and Councillors regarding the s106 agreement and neither
have officers corresponded with the applicant and/or any other
representative than their legal advisers.
The final version of the s.106 Agreement can be viewed via this link and
by entering the application number:
[1]https://www.publicaccess.fenland.gov.uk/...
We have applied the public interest test and taking into account the
nature and content of the correspondence and draft documentation, we
consider that the interest lies in maintaining the exemption from
disclosure rather than releasing the information to you.
If you are unhappy with the way the authority has handled your request,
you may ask for an internal review. Please contact [2][Fenland District Council request email],
who will arrange an internal review of your case. Under regulation 11(2),
you must contact us for a review no later than 40 working days after the
date of this letter. If you are not content with the outcome of the
internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted
at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Freedom of Information Officer
01354 654321
[3]www.fenland.gov.uk
[4]Medium logo 2008 cmyk
How did we do? Visit our website to [5]have your say
E-mails and any attachments from Fenland District Council (the Council)
are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the
sender immediately by replying to the e-mail, and then delete it without
making copies or using it in any other way or placing any reliance on it..
It is not intended that this e-mail shall constitute either an offer or
acceptance nor is it intended to form a contract between the Council and
the addressee or any third party.
Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the sender and do not
necessarily represent those of the Council unless otherwise specifically
stated. Although any attachments to the message will have been checked for
viruses before transmission, you are urged to carry out your own virus
check before opening attachments, since the Council accepts no
responsibility for loss or damage caused by software viruses.
Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that, under the data
protection legislation such as UK GDPR, the Freedom of Information Act
2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and other related
legislation, the contents of e-mails may have to be disclosed in response
to a request.
To provide you with our services we will need to record personal
information, such as your e-mail address. This information will be kept
securely and only accessed by approved staff. We will not share your
information with anyone else without first telling you. If you would like
more details about how we protect personal information, then please
contact our Data Protection Officer or visit our privacy notice page.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.publicaccess.fenland.gov.uk/...
2. mailto:[Fenland District Council request email]
3. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/
5. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/threecs
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Lawrence Weetman left an annotation ()
I raised an ICO case about a lack of response. They have asked FDC to respond within 10 days.