Dear Mr Mann

I acknowledge receipt of your request which is receiving attention.

I shall contact you again when I am in a position to respond more fully to your request.

Yours sincerely

Angelene Kirkpatrick
For Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell
ML1 1AB

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Dear Mr Mann

I refer again to your email dated 1 November 2019 seeking information in relation to Council owned assets.

Having investigated, my response to your queries numbered1) &2) is as follows:-

1. Information relative to the sale of assets is publically available from the Registers of Scotland (Land/Property Sales) and Section 25 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 provides an absolute exemption for information which is already accessible. For ease of reference the link to the Registers of Scotland website is as follows:-

https://www.ros.gov.uk/support/contact-us

2. The link to this authorities asset register is set out below:-

https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/inde...

I can advise that North Lanarkshire Council, having regard to the provisions of Section 21 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, has established a procedure whereby any person who has requested information and is in any way dissatisfied with the decision on that request, can within forty working days require a review of that decision by writing to the Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions, Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB. Accordingly, if you are dissatisfied with this decision and seek such review please write to the Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions.

I would advise, also, that in terms of Section 47 of the Act a person who is dissatisfied with a notice given by the local authority under Section 21 of the Act - ie. a notice following a review of a decision by a local authority, or by the failure of a local authority to give such a notice - may make application to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision as to whether, in any respect specified in that application, the request for information to which the requirement relates has been dealt with in accordance with the Act. Such an application must be made within six months of the review decision and be in writing or in another form which, by reason of it having some permanency is capable of being used for subsequent reference. The application must state the name of the applicant, and provide an address for correspondence. The application must also specify the request for information to which the requirement for review relates, the matter which gave rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction with the original decision of the local authority and the matter which gives rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction with the decision on review by the local authority or the failure of the local authority to issue such a decision. The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted as follows:-

Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St. Andrews
KY16 9DS
email: [email address]

Appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner can also be made online via the following link: -

www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal

I hope this information is sufficient for your purpose. If, however, you require further information – or I can assist in any other way – please let me know.

Yours sincerely

Jacqueline Keachie
For Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Windmillhill St
Motherwell
ML1 1AB
01698 302232

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I am currently out of the office. All e-mails will be forwarded  to a
member of the Freedom of Information Team, who can be contacted on 01698
302 232.

Dear Mr Mann

I acknowledge receipt of your email and can advise that I have passed your correspondence to the Council's Legal Manager to arrange for a Review of the Response to your Freedom of Information Request.

You will be contacted again when the Council is in a position to respond more fully to your request for Review.

Yours sincerely

Angelene Kirkpatrick
For Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell
ML1 1AB

________________________________________
From: Jamie Mann
Sent: 22 November 2019 17:41:15 (UTC+00:00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London
To: Keachie Jacqueline
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Sale of Council Assets

Hi Jacqueline,

Please can you open an internal review into the council's refusal to share the data with me? Other councils have shared the equivalent data.

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Mann

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Dear Mr Mann,

Freedom of Information - Request for Review

I am emailing in respect of the above.

I am looking for some clarification on your initial request for
information.

You have asked for lists of the following:

1.       All Council-owned assets that have been sold in the last five
years;

2.       All assets currently owned by the Council.

We have been unable to access Edinburgh City Council’s Asset Register via
the link provided and so are unsure of the criteria to which you refer.
Please confirm whether the information contained in North Lanarkshire
Council’s Asset Register meets your definition of “Council-owned assets”
for the purposes of both strands of your request.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Andrew Neilson

Trainee Solicitor

Legal & Democratic Solutions

North Lanarkshire Council

Windmillhill Street

Motherwell

ML1 1AB

DX 571701 Motherwell 2

T: 01698 302375

F: 01698 302211

E: [1][email address]

THIS EMAIL MAY CONTAIN PRIVILEGED LEGAL ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE FORWARDED
TO ANY THIRD PARTY WITHOUT THE EXPRESS CONSENT OF THE WRITER

*********************************************************************
North Lanarkshire Council's Web Site -
http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

** SENT ON BEHALF OF RAKSANA AKHTAR, PRINCIPAL SOLICITOR, LEGAL AND
DEMOCRATIC SOLUTIONS

Dear Mr Mann,

I refer to your email dated 22 November 2019 requesting a review of the
Council’s response to your Freedom of Information request dated 1 November
2019. This email constitutes the Council’s response to that request for a
review.

Looking at the initial response to your request, I note that you were
given the following link to North Lanarkshire Council’s Asset Register:

[1]https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/inde... .

You were also advised that information relative to the sale of assets is
publically available from the Registers of Scotland and that Section 25 of
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“the Act”) provides an
absolute exemption for information which is already accessible. You were
then provided the following link to the Registers of Scotland website:

[2]https://www.ros.gov.uk/support/contact-us .

In your email dated 4 December 2019 you clarified that you were requesting
a list of property and land assets that have been sold by the Council in
the last five years.

I’ve considered the information you requested and the application of the
section 25 exemption to your request.

Section 25 states that information which an applicant can reasonably
obtain other than by requesting it under section 1(1) of the Act is exempt
information. This is an absolute exemption. Under section 25(2)(b)(ii) of
the Act, information is deemed to be reasonably obtainable if the Keeper
of the Registers of Scotland holds it and makes it available for
inspection and (in so far as practicable) copying by members of the public
on request, whether free of charge or on payment.

Having made enquiries with the Registers of Scotland, I am satisfied that
they hold the information you have requested. I am also satisfied that
should you request this information from them, they would provide it to
you in exchange for payment of their relevant fee.

The Registers of Scotland have advised that they will not be able to
disclose the identity of the purchaser of the property in question where
this would necessitate disclosure of personal data. Nevertheless, if you
wish to find out the identity of the current owner of any property, you
can do so by downloading a copy of the property’s title sheet from the
Registers of Scotland website.

For more information on the options available to you, please visit the
following pages of the Registers of Scotland website:

[3]https://www.ros.gov.uk/data-and-statisti...

[4]https://scotlis.ros.gov.uk/

In light of the above, I have decided to uphold the decision of the
Freedom of information Co-ordinator to exempt the information from release
under Section 25 of the Act.

I must advise you that, in terms of Section 47 of the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002, a person who is dissatisfied with a
notice given by a Local Authority under Section 21 of the Act - i.e. a
notice following a review of a decision by a Local Authority - may within
six months, make application to the Scottish Information Commissioner for
a decision as to whether, in any respect specified in that application,
the request for information to which the requirement relates has been
dealt with in accordance with the Act.  This letter does constitute a
notice given by North Lanarkshire Council under Section 21 of the Act, and
the Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted as follows:-

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St. Andrews

Fife

KY16  9DS

email: [email address]

Appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner can also be made online
via the following link: -

[5]www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal

I must advise also that Section 56 of the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act makes provision for an appeal, on point of law, to the
Court of Session against a decision made by the Scottish Information
Commissioner under sub-section 2 of Section 49 by the person who applied
for that decision - and against a decision by the Commissioner under
sub-section 3(b) of that Section by the person who applied for that
decision.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Neilson

Trainee Solicitor

Legal & Democratic Solutions

North Lanarkshire Council

Windmillhill Street

Motherwell

ML1 1AB

DX 571701 Motherwell 2

T: 01698 302375

F: 01698 302211

E: [6][email address]

THIS EMAIL MAY CONTAIN PRIVILEGED LEGAL ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE FORWARDED
TO ANY THIRD PARTY WITHOUT THE EXPRESS CONSENT OF THE WRITER

*********************************************************************
North Lanarkshire Council's Web Site -
http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/inde...
2. https://www.ros.gov.uk/support/contact-us
3. https://www.ros.gov.uk/data-and-statisti...
4. https://scotlis.ros.gov.uk/
5. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal
6. mailto:[email address]

I am out of the office until Friday 3rd December 2020 and your email will
not be read or forwarded in my absence. For urgent matters please email
[email address] or phone 01698 302330.

Dear Mr Mann,

In terms of terms of Section 47 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, a person who is dissatisfied with a notice given by a Local Authority under section 21 of the Act - i.e. a notice following a review of a decision by a Local Authority - may within six months, make an application to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision as to whether, in any respect specified in that application, the request for information to which the requirement relates has been dealt with in accordance with the Act.

The email dated 24 December 2019, below, is the Council’s formal response to your request for a review of the initial response to your Freedom of Information request and constitutes a notice given by the Council under section 21 of the Act. Accordingly, if you remain dissatisfied, the Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address:

Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St. Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
email: [email address]

Appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner can also be made online via the following link: -

www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal

I must also advise that Section 56 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 makes provision for an appeal, on point of law, to the Court of Session against a decision made by the Scottish Information Commissioner under sub-section 2 of Section 49 by the person who applied for that decision - and against a decision by the Commissioner under sub-section 3(b) of that Section by the person who applied for that decision.

Regards,

Andrew Neilson
Trainee Solicitor
Legal & Democratic Solutions
North Lanarkshire Council
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell
ML1 1AB
 
DX 571701 Motherwell 2
 
T: 01698 302375
F: 01698 302211
E: [email address]
 
THIS EMAIL MAY CONTAIN PRIVILEGED LEGAL ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE FORWARDED TO ANY THIRD PARTY WITHOUT THE EXPRESS CONSENT OF THE WRITER

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Dear Mr Mann,

Thank you for your email.

Please submit a new request via [North Lanarkshire Council request email].

Regards,

Andrew Neilson
Solicitor
Regulation and Governance
Legal and Democratic Solutions
North Lanarkshire Council
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell
ML1 1AB

Email: [email address]
Please note I am currently working from home

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