Snow and Ice
Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,
what are Wirral councils responsibilities/duties in legislation when the snow and ice cover the roads and pavements?
Yours faithfully,
Scott
Thank you for your recent request made under the Freedom of Information
Act, which has been received by Wirral Borough Council.
In accordance with Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, a
requester should provide their name for a request to be processed (please
see the guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office below):
What constitutes a real name?
We consider that a relatively informal approach is also appropriate in
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stating his name in a request for information as “Arthur Roberts”, “A. T.
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In most cases, it will be reasonable for a real name to comprise a name by
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Once Wirral Borough Council are in receipt of your full name, your request
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Yours sincerely,
Tracy O'Hare
Information Management Officer
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email:[1][Wirral Borough Council request email]
Visit our website: [2]www.wirral.gov.uk
This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free
to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge
Dear Scott Williams
Thank you for your recent Freedom of information FOI enquiry:
‘Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council, what are Wirral councils
responsibilities/duties in legislation when the snow and ice cover the
roads and pavements? ‘
Please find information available and the Wirral Council’s policy on these
matters at the following links on our publication scheme:
The Highway Winter Service Policy can be found at the following link:
The policy also supports the council’s statutory duty to maintain the
highway through compliance with Section 41 of the Highways Act (1980)
In addition to this good practice, Section 41(1a) of the Highways Act
1980, as inserted by Section 111 of the Railways and Transport Act 2003,
imposes a duty on the Council, as the Highway Authority, ‘....to ensure,
so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is
not endangered by snow or ice’.
[1]https://www.wirral.gov.uk/parking-roads-...
Please find further information as follows and we trust this assists with
your enquiry:
[2]https://www.wirral.gov.uk/parking-roads-...
[3]https://www.wirral.gov.uk/parking-roads-...
[4]https://www.wirral.gov.uk/parking-roads-...
Yours sincerely
Tracy O'Hare
Information Management Officer
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email:[5][Wirral Borough Council request email]
Visit our website: [6]www.wirral.gov.uk
This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free
to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge
Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,
let me be a bit more direct, it was no secret snow and a freeze were on the way, why didn't Wirral council grit the pavements and most of the roads in Birkenhead on the last snowfall then freeze?
Yours sincerely,
Scott
Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,
Thank you for your reply which mirrored your 1st answer. Following on from the 1st question, I sent a second more direct question, I'll ask the same question again.
Why did Wirral council fail to grit the roads and pavements in Birkenhead on the last snowfall/freeze?
Yours sincerely,
Scott
Dear Scott
The Freedom of Information Act provides a right of access to recorded information. The question posed seeks opinion. There is no recorded information held in response to your specific enquiry.
Yours sincerely
Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Finance – Digital and Improvement
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email: [Wirral Borough Council request email]
Visit our website: www.wirral.gov.uk
Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,
This is a direct question...Why didn't Wirral council grit the pavements and most of the roads in Birkenhead on the last snowfall then the following freeze? This is the same question asked in the last request. Please advise how this question is seeking an opinion? There is an answer to that question.
Yours sincerely,
Scott
Dear Scott
There is no recorded information as to why an operational decision was
taken/not taken. Information known to officers or discussed but not
committed to recorded form is not subject to the FOI Act. We have no
recorded information in response to this request.
Yours sincerely
Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Finance – Digital and Improvement
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email: [1][Wirral Borough Council request email]
Visit our website: [2]www.wirral.gov.uk
Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,
Why is there no recorded information? I would understand if it was a freak snowstorm/freeze. However in this case it was broadcast on the media across the country that snow and a freeze was on it's way.
I've submitted this FOI because I witnessed elderly and young people walking on the road to avoid hazardous iced up pavements. This I find unacceptable! These services are paid for through our taxes, it's unacceptable that you cannot provide an explanation as to why a necessary service was not carried out in Birkenhead.
I must now ask, what parts of the Wirral did the council actually grit both the roads and pavements?
Yours sincerely,
Scott
Dear Scott
Freedom of Information legislation provides a right of access to recorded information. Where none is held, we are unable to provide a response. Your question, whilst noted, is seeking an opinion or explanation as to the absence of recorded information and this falls outside the scope of the Act.
We are unable to assist you further.
Yours sincerely
Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Finance – Digital and Improvement
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email: [Wirral Borough Council request email]
Visit our website: www.wirral.gov.uk
Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,
To clarify, you need to stop stating..."Your question, whilst noted, is seeking an opinion or explanation as to the absence of recorded information", and take on board that Wirral council failed to provide essential services in dangerous conditions that the tax payer pays for. You expect me to just accept complete incompetence? You now need to provide an explanation why Wirral councils incompetence has not been recorded? This now raises the question, how many other incompetent acts/services has Wirral council failed to act on, or record. You are aware are you not, that people/tax payers want the correct services at the correct times, for the taxes they pay?
So if you can be so kind as to provide the reason Wirral council failed to grit the roads and pavements on the last freeze and then failed to record the information as to why they failed to grit the roads and pavements???
Yours sincerely,
Scott
Dear Scott
If you are unhappy with the Council's provision of services, then the
correct process would be to log a complaint with our corporate complaints
process, not via FOI. Please see our website at
[1]https://www.wirral.gov.uk/feedback
Yours sincerely
Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Finance – Digital and Improvement
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
Email: [2][Wirral Borough Council request email]
Visit our website: [3]www.wirral.gov.uk
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