Solicitors retained or instructed by CRT

The request was refused by Canal & River Trust.

Dear Canal & River Trust,

Pease give me a list of all the solicitors you retain or have instructed over the past five years.

Yours faithfully,

geoff mayers

Information Request, Canal & River Trust

Dear Mr Mayers,

I am writing further to your request for information received today.

We have considered your request and I can confirm that the information you have requested relates to the general administration and organisational management and the general conduct of the business of the Canal & River Trust rather than its statutory functions and, therefore, your requests fall outside the Freedom of Information Act.

The Canal & River Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee that is not owned or controlled by any public body. Accordingly it is not a “publicly owned company” within the meaning of s.6 Freedom of Information Act 2000. Furthermore, Canal & River Trust is not a body listed in Schedule 1 of the 2000 Act on an unlimited basis (unlike public authorities) and is therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act for the generality of its activities. That includes its general administration and organisational management and the general conduct of its business. Therefore, in that context Canal & River Trust is in the same position as other charities independent from government.

The Canal & River Trust is however also a statutory undertaker and for a limited range of its activities it derives its powers from statutory functions transferred to it from the British Waterways Board (“BW”) by the British Waterways Board (Transfer of Functions) Order 2012 (“the Order”). The Order amended the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to provide that the 2000 Act applies only to information held by Canal & River Trust relating to the functions (i.e. statutory powers and duties) transferred from BW to Canal & River Trust by virtue of the Order. Only certain statutory functions of BW were transferred to Canal & River Trust - essentially those giving it authority and obligations to operate and maintain the waterways. The generality of the other activities of Canal & River Trust are exercised by it as a company limited by guarantee outside the public sector and are not dependent on statutory powers. Accordingly, the Canal & River Trust is not a public body subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act in respect of its activities that are not exercisable by virtue of specific statutory functions transferred to it.

Kind regards,

Sarina Young
Customer Service Co-Ordinator
Canal & River Trust | The Kiln | Mather Road | Newark | NG24 1FB | Tel 01636 675 740 | [mobile number]
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P Smith left an annotation ()

They are known to have used:

Wright Hassall
Shoosmiths
Bates, Wells and Braithwaite

there will be many others of course.

Nigel Moore left an annotation ()

Others include TLT Solicitors of Bristol, and Howard Kennedy in London [not to mention specialist debt-collector solicitor firms]. Not all of these will have been used within the past 5 years though, many have withdrawn from representing them over the years, and Shoosmiths are the one firm prepared to 'carry on regardless'.