Scarborough Borough Council Town Hall Civic Move

The request was refused by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Dear East Riding of Yorkshire Council,

Last year I made an FOI request about some pre-application advice East Riding of Yorkshire Council gave to Scarborough Borough Council regarding their plans to move the Civic Functions for the current SBC Town Hall on St Nicholas Street in Scarborough to a proposed new location on Dunslow Road, Eastfield, near Scarborough.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sc...

I accepted that you couldn't supply the information as it was client confidential. I asked SBC to supply that information and they have ignored the request.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sc...

I would like to know more information about the pre-application advice you gave to Scarborough Borough Council regarding their plans to move the Civic Functions for the current SBC Town Hall on St Nicholas Street in Scarborough to a proposed new location on Dunslow Road, Eastfield, near Scarborough.

On what date did Scarborough Borough Council formally contact East Riding Council with regard to the pre-application advice?

On what date did East Riding Council provide the pre-application advice to Scarborough Borough Council?

How did East Riding Council provide the pre-application advice to Scarborough Borough Council? Was it communicated through official paperwork via the postal system? Email? Fax? Hand delivered paperwork?

Could you give a brief synopsis about the pre-application advice given? I'm looking to find out if there was a favourable response or the likelihood that if a full application was sought from East Riding Council then the application would be refused.

Yours faithfully,
Tim Thorne

East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Hello,

Thank you for your email below which we will deal with as before under the
Environmental Information Regulations.  I will forward your email to Mr
Stephen Cook, Development Control Manager  who will respond direct as
before.  Mr Cook can be contacted by email [email address]

Regards,

Freedom of Information
East Riding of Yorkshire Council

If you have any further queries regarding this email please respond to
this email address only

From:        Tim Thorne <[FOI #144463 email]>
To:        FOI requests at East Riding of Yorkshire Council
<[East Riding of Yorkshire Council request email]>,
Date:        07/01/2013 12:59
Subject:        Freedom of Information request - Scarborough Borough
Council Town Hall Civic Move

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East Riding of Yorkshire Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Thorne,

As you indicate in your e-mail officers of this Council were acting as
consultants on this matter and contractually the correspondence and
content of the advice is the property of Scarborough Borough Council.
 Officers of this Council were asked to provide this advice precisely
because this Council has no interest in the outcome and would not have
been consulted had a planning application been submitted.  Just to correct
a possible misunderstanding in your last paragraph, any application
submitted within Scarborough Borough Council's area would have to be
determined by that Council, however they would be entitled to ask a
planning consultant to prepare a report and recommendations.  Planning
officers from East Riding have acted as consultants for Ryedale in
relation to specific retail applications in Malton, but the decisions were
made by that Council and all correspondence passed back to Ryedale.  In
this case no planning application has been submitted.

As you are aware my original advice was that you address your enquiry to
Scarborough Borough Council, but as required I set out the formal
procedure including the right to request a review and referal to the
information Commissioners should you remain dissatisfied.  This would
allow you to formally ask for a review of my decision not to disclose the
information, but my reading of your current request is that this is made
informally, and I have therefore replied on this basis.

I am very surprised to hear that you have had no response from Scarborough
Borough Council and can only suggest that you contact them again.  

Stephen Cook
Development Control Manager West
01482 393830

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Dear East Riding of Yorkshire Council,

Many thanks for the speedy reply, if only my local Council could move at 1/100th of your speed I could have gotten a reply out of them by now!

Just one query before I stop bothering you. I realise some of the four questions I just posed would break client/commercial confidentiality, but surely the two questions regarding the date the advice was sought and the date the advice was given would be so innocuous that it wouldn't breach client confidentiality and you'd therefore be able to release via this FOI request?

"On what date did Scarborough Borough Council formally contact East Riding Council with regard to the pre-application advice?"

"On what date did East Riding Council provide the pre-application advice to Scarborough Borough Council?"

Regarding pre-application advice on the whole. I did have a good look through all your planning documents on the website, but I didn't see any references to pre-application advice. Is all pre-application advice given by your Council (or Councils in general) considered client confidential and therefore not minuted in Planning Meeting minutes?

Yours faithfully,
Tim Thorne

East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Dear Mr Thorne,

Thanks for this, but unfortunately I consider I cannot even provide dates,
other than to confirm that the advice was given in 2012 and before I
understand the decision was taken by SBC.

In relation to pre-application advice generally, these were historically
simply general enquiries that officers responded to informally with the
specific qualification that any advice could not commit the Council to a
specific decision.  Typically the question would be eg - would I get
planning approval for an extension of x size ?, or would I be able to
build a house on this plot of land ?.  

Increasingly this form of advice is becoming more formalised, and in many
authorities charges are now made.  It remains however that such requests
are NOT planning applications, and that any advice is not binding on a
Council.  

Government advice itself encourages pre-application consultation as a
means by which developers can address potential problems - eg access and
parking requirements -before submitting an application, but the level of
advice that can be given is often dependant on the level of detail
provided. In formulating any response no public consultation is
undertaken, but note that major developers are asked by the Govt to
undertake their own public consultation exercises.  If a site is put on
the market we can get several different requests for advice on alternative
schemes, any response being provided on the planning merits against
national and local policy.  Whilst I would consider any pre-application
correspondence as confidential, this would only apply until and if a
planning application is submitted.

As part of the application, developers have to indicate if there has been
pre-application discussions and will often refer to advice in their
supporting statement.  It is clearly only fair and in the public interest
that any details of pre-application discussions are made public once an
application is submitted.  However where the applicant, having received
pre-application advice, decides not to proceed with a proposal there is no
planning application to consider and it would infringe commercial
confidentiality to disclose the correspondence, and fetter the Council in
its role of giving impartial advice to potential applicants.  More recent
Govt guidance also stresses the need for planning authorities to work
positively with applicants to deliver sustainable development, and
informal pre-application discussions is in my opinion a vital part of
this.

Currently I am reviewing this Council's charging policy for
pre-application inquiries, and how the process operates, so your enquiry
is interesting in seeing things from the public point of view and may well
help me in drafting guidance and advice to go on our web site.

Stephen Cook
Development Control Manager West
01482 393830

From:        Tim Thorne <[FOI #144463 email]>
To:        Stephen[email address]
Date:        10/01/2013 13:56
Subject:        Re: Fw: Freedom of Information request - Scarborough
Borough Council Town Hall Civic Move

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    Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
    [FOI #144463 email]
   
    Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
    published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
    [1]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offic...
   
    If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your
    web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
   
    -------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

show quoted sections

E

References

Visible links
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Dear Mr Cook,

Even though the request was refused, many thanks for your timely, courteous and interesting reply.

Yours faithfully,
Tim Thorne