Scientology rates relief: Saint Hill Manor

The request was partially successful.

William Thackeray

Dear Mid Sussex District Council,

In 1999 an application for relief from national non-domestic rates (business rates) was made in respect of the Scientology property at Saint Hill Manor.

Please provide:

- The application itself and any supporting documents.

- Documents (such as internal and external emails, letters, memos, meeting notes, phone notes, agenda, minutes) relating to the application.

- The Council's reasons for its decision in respect of the application.

Thank you for your assistance with this matter.

Yours faithfully,

William Thackeray

Freedom of Information, Mid Sussex District Council

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Council, Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1SS or
by return to this email.

Information provided under the FOI Act 2000 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 may be not be re-used, except for personal
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www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=4084 for further information or
contact Service Improvement on 01444 477422.

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Anastasia left an annotation ()

"In 1999 an application for relief from national non-domestic rates business rates) was made in respect of the Scientology property at Saint Hill Manor.

Please provide:

- The application itself and any supporting documents.

- Documents (such as internal and external emails, letters, memos, meeting notes, phone notes, agenda, minutes) relating to the application.

- The Council's reasons for its decision in respect of the application."

Don't think the Council would have it WT, and see this FOI for the Council's reasons, Westminster City Council london sure didn't seem to have any dox.

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

Freedom of Information, Mid Sussex District Council

Dear Mr Thackeray,

Thank you for your request for information regarding Scientology rates relief. We have consulted with our Council Tax section who have provided the following response.

Application documents for rate relief are not required to be kept past three years, so we do not have any copies of the Scientology application as this was over 11 yeas ago.

The only note referring to the request for rate relief is on the Council Tax notes for their file. A copy of the notes from the file is as follows:

"email from camden - church of scientology have applied for charitable relief there - advised we haven't had an app here but they did apply6 back in 1999 but were refused as registered charity in Australia not the UK.
User Id: amandam Date: 23.07.2008 09:13:19"

The reason the application was not successful in 1999, is that they were not a registered charity here in the UK and therefore not eligible for the rate relief.

If for whatever reason you are unhappy with our response you are entitled to pursue any dissatisfaction, in the first instance, through the Council's Complaints Procedure, in writing to Jo Carr, Customer Services and Communications Business Unit Leader, Mid Sussex District Council, Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1SS or via the website at http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pag...
 
If you still remain dissatisfied with the response you can complain to the Information Commissioner - details available at: https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us...
 
Information provided under the FOI Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 may be not be re-used, except for personal study and non-commercial research or for news reporting and reviews, without the permission of the Council. Please see the Council website www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=4084  for further information or contact Service Improvement on 01444 477422.
 
yours sincerely,

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William Thackeray

My thanks to you and your colleagues for your assistance with this matter.

Yours sincerely,

William Thackeray

Freedom of Information, Mid Sussex District Council

Thank you for your email. If the email contains a request for information,
the 20 working day countdown will start on the first working day after
receipt of this request.

The request may be subject to an exemption, which the Authority is
entitled to apply to refuse the request. We will notify you if this is the
case.

Once the information has been identified the Authority may also ask that a
fee be paid for processing and delivering the information to you. Details
of any fee to be charged will be notified to you as soon as possible.

Any future correspondence you may have in relation to this matter should
be sent to the Senior Service Improvement Officer, Mid Sussex District
Council, Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1SS or
by return to this email.

Information provided under the FOI Act 2000 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 may be not be re-used, except for personal
study and non-commercial research or for news reporting and reviews,
without the permission of the Council. Please see the Council website
www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=4084 for further information or
contact Service Improvement on 01444 477422.

show quoted sections