TCR Project
Dear East Sussex County Council,
1a. Please release the original technical drawing for the Uckfield Town Centre Reinvestment Project.
1b. Please release the new technical drawing for the Uckfield Town Centre Reinvestment Project.
2a. Please release any relevant empirical evidence/data demonstrating the need to remove parking in Uckfield High Street. For clarification I'm not referring to the 'Uckfield Transport Study- 2010' or the 'Uckfield Model Validation Report- Sep 2011'.
2b. Please explain the justification for the need to remove parking spaces, having read the 'legal agreements' which govern the use of the section 106 funds it's apparent that no specific figure is provided or indeed requirement a to remove any parking spaces.
2c. Please release the results of the traffic survey that East Sussex County Council conducted in Uckfield High Street in February 2015. For the avoidance of doubt the following link takes you to a news article on the survey I'm specifically referring to: http://uckfieldnews.com/traffic-cameras-...
I understand that under the Act I am entitled to a response within 20 working days of your receipt of this request. I reserve the right to make details public.
Some parts of the request may be easier to answer than others. Should this be the case, I request that you release information as soon as possible.
I would also indicate that under the Act I retail to publish elements of your response if matters of fact are in the public interest. Prior indication of any publication would be
brought to your attention in advance.
If my request is denied in whole or in part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I will also expect you to release all non-exempt material. I reserve the right to appeal your decision to the Information Commissioner to withhold
any information or to charge excessive fees for this information.
I would prefer to receive the information electronically.
If you require any clarification, I expect you to contact me under your section 16 duty to provide advice and assistance if you find any aspect of this FOI request problematic.
Please acknowledge receipt of this request, and I look forward to receiving the information in the near future.
Yours faithfully,
Josh Gibbens
Dear Mr Gibbens
EIR Request ref: 6027 / Uckfield Regeneratrion Project
Thank you for your request for information about the above. Your request
was received on 1/9/2015 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).
We always aim to respond as quickly as possible, but we do need some
clarification before we will be able to proess your request.
In question 2a. you have asked for “any relevant empirical evidence/data
demonstrating the need to remove parking in Uckfield High Street”. Would
you please provide a time period during which the information you seek has
been generated or obtained. For example “From 2010 to date”.
The Regulations cover any any information in written, visual, aural,
electronic or any other material form (recorded information) that is held
by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by
UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Recorded information
includes printed documents, computer files, letters, emails, photographs,
and sound or video recordings.
In question 2b. you have asked, “Please explain the justification for the
need to remove parking spaces”. This question does not appear to be a
request for recorded information.
You have made it clear that you do not require the 'Uckfield Transport
Study- 2010' or the 'Uckfield Model Validation Report- Sep 2011'. Bearing
in mind the definition above, please therefore clarify what recorded
information you require that relates to the removal of parking in Uckfield
High Street.
.Please quote the above reference number in any communication regarding
this request.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Customer Information Officer
East Sussex County Council
Communities Economy and Transport Directorate
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE
Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208
email: [1][East Sussex County Council request email] web: [2]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi
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Dear Freedom of Information,
Further to your request to provide clarification to question 2a I provide the following: Please release any relevant empirical evidence/data demonstrating the need to remove parking in Uckfield High Street since 2010. For clarification I'm not referring to the 'Uckfield Transport Study- 2010' or the 'Uckfield Model Validation Report- Sep 2011'.
In respect of question 2b I've revised the wording to the following: Please release any documents demonstrating the need to remove parking spaces in respect of the the 'legal agreements' which govern the use of the section 106 funds. For the further avoidance of doubt I attach the relevant planning applications to enable you to find the legal agreements if required:
Grampian- WD/2007/1075/MAO & WD/2008/2906/MAO
Eastbourne Road- WD/2006/2908/MAO
Park Farm- WD/2007/0526/MAO
Sandpits- WD/2006/2269/MAO
Snatts Road- WD/2011/0937/F
Sunnybrooke Close- WD/2007/0197/F
St Michaels Convent- WD-2012-0791-MAJ
Yours sincerely,
Josh Gibbens
Dear Mr Gibbens
EIR Request ref: 6027 / Uckfield Regeneratrion Project
Thank you for your request for information about the above. Your request
was received on 1/9/2015 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
We always aim to respond as quickly as possible, and in this case will do
so no later than 29/9/2015, which is the 20 working day deadline. The
deadline is counted from the first working day we receive it, not the date
a letter is written / posted or an email sent.
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we proceed in dealing with your request.
Please quote the above reference number in any communication regarding
this request.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Customer Information Officer
East Sussex County Council
Communities Economy and Transport Directorate
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE
Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208
email: [1][East Sussex County Council request email] web: [2]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi
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Dear Mr Gibbens
EIR Request ref: 6027 / Uckfield Regeneration Project
Thank you for your request for information about the above. Your request
was received by the FOI team on 1/9/2015 and I am dealing with it under
the terms of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Our response
deadline is 29/9/2015. It has come to our attention that on the same date
that you made this request, you made two other identical requests to other
departments of the County Council as follows:
Sent to Elaine Martin at 22.38 on 31 August 2015
Dear Elaine,
I'm writing to you to request whether I could view the original and new
drawing for the redesigned High Street in Uckfield in the next couple of
days? I know I've previously seen the old plans and I believe it'd be
beneficial to myself to see them compared against each other. Also if this
were possible would I be able to obtain physical copies or to take digital
photos? Your assistance in this matter is sincerely appreciated.
Sent to Highways Contact Centre at 22.41 on 31 August 2015
Dear Sir/Madam,
I'm writing to you to request whether I could view the original and new
drawings for the redesigned High Street in Uckfield in the next couple of
days? I know I've previously seen the old plans and I believe it'd be
beneficial to myself to see them compared against each other. Also if this
were possible would I be able to obtain physical copies or to take digital
photos? Your assistance in this matter is sincerely appreciated.
Request already registered under the EIR…Sent to FOI team via
Whatdotheyknow.com at 23.10 on 31 August 2015
Dear East Sussex County Council,
1a. Please release the original technical drawing for the Uckfield Town
Centre Reinvestment Project.
1b. Please release the new technical drawing for the Uckfield Town Centre
Reinvestment Project.
We will not be responding separately to these duplicate requests and the
deadline remains as stated in our original acknowledgement.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Customer Information Officer
East Sussex County Council
Communities Economy and Transport Directorate
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE
Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208
email: [1][East Sussex County Council request email] web: [2]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi
P please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
email
This message is intended for the use of the addressee only and may
contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received it in
error please notify the sender and destroy it. You may not use it or copy
it to anyone else.
E-mail is not a secure communications medium. Please be aware of this
when replying. All communications sent to or from the County Council
may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with
relevant legislation.
Although East Sussex County Council has taken steps to ensure that this
e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility
if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the
appropriate checks are made.
You can visit our website at http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk
References
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Dear Mr Coleman,
Could you please clarify whether I'll be able to view the plans as per my request, I don't believe it to be relevant to the EIR request as the technical drawings are freely available to view for anyone wishing to attend 'County Hall'.
I provide the following statement from the TCR Project Facebook page on Feburary 26 2015 in support of this:
"As is normal practice, plans for such works are available for viewing at ESCC offices in Lewes."
I'd assume that the Highways department is aware of this as I've previously viewed the drawings having spoken to Peter Griggs and quoted the above post to East Sussex County Council and it certainly wasn't handled under FOI or EIR.
The fact Elaine Martin has made no attempt at contacting me is somewhat disappointing as I'm aware that the email was 'opened' on the morning of September 7 2015. She also appears to have contacted yourself whilst failing to even acknowledge my email.
Unless there is a justifiable reason I'd still like to view these plans, having seen them previously I'd find it hard to see why I can't compare and contrast the two drawing. Should they be released under my EIR request this would be sufficient in terms of physical copies, however I'd still like to see the plans in person before then.
I believe it may best for you to pass this above email to Elaine Martin at this stage, whilst stressing the urgency of my request, your prompt response to this most urgent matter is sincerely appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Josh Gibbens
Dear Mr Gibbens,
Thank you for your email and for making us aware of your concerns. I will
try to address them.
All requests for information made in writing to a public authority may be
considered with reference to the terms of the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA), the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) or the Data
Protection Act (DPA). Verbal requests for information may also be
considered under the EIR where the information falls within the definition
of "Environmental" under those Regulations. There is no requirement within
the FOIA, the EIR or the DPA for the applicant to cite the legislation.
Whether or not the applicant cites the legislation in their request, it is
for the receiving authority to decide whether or not it is appropriate to
deal with the request informally under "normal business" or more
appropriate to deal with the request formally and in keeping with the
terms of the relevant legislation. Each case will be taken upon it’s own
merits and the circumstances in which it is received.
You made three requests for information within an hour of each other that
were almost identical and each through a different channel. The one that
you submitted via "whatdotheyknow.com" specifically cited the FOIA and was
routed directly to this team by that website. This is because this team is
responsible for receiving and responding to formal requests for
information and it is our contact details that are published to enable
applicants to correctly address such requests. This is in keeping with the
Information Commissioner's recommended best practice. Your other two
requests were brought to our attention some days later after being passed
to us internally from other departments. Therefore, the first of your
requests received by this team cited the FOIA and we registered it
formally, albeit as one falling under the terms of the EIR.
Whilst there is no requirement for applicants to send their request
direct to the FOI team, we do recommended this because it can often reduce
delay in the applicant receiving the authority's response. For example,
where a request is sent to an individual who is on leave or to a team that
is not able to provide a response themselves. Where a request meets the
requirements to be considered "valid", it is valid from the point of
receipt anywhere in the County Council and must be responded to within the
specified deadlines. But if there is a delay in that request being dealt
with because of where it has been sent by the applicant, this will
inevitably delay our response. We always still aim to provide our response
within the specified deadlines but on occasion, with the best will in the
world, we are unable to meet the deadline where the request has not been
sent directly to us. I therefore recommend that in future you direct all
requests for information to this team at this email address.
Moving back to your two additional duplicate requests; one to the Highways
Contact Centre (HCC) and another to Elaine Martin. The HCC is just that, a
contact centre. Upon receipt of your email they simply passed it to the
team that they felt would be best placed to provide you with what you were
asking for. That team then passed it to us and this internal passing
around inevitably built in a delay to us dealing with it. When you sent
your email to Elaine Martin, she was on annual leave and didn’t open it
for several days. Once she did open it, she forwarded to us immediately
but again, this caused a delay. However, it was apparent once we had
received your other two emails that they were duplicates sent at the same
time as the one we had already received and that we were already
processing your request. Hence my email to you yesterday.
Finally, I am sorry that you are not content to wait but we are processing
your request in keeping with the terms of the EIR and we will provide our
response in due course.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Customer Information Officer
East Sussex County Council
Communities, Economy and Transport
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE
Phone: 01273 482913
email: [1][East Sussex County Council request email] web: [2]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi
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error please notify the sender and destroy it. You may not use it or copy
it to anyone else.
E-mail is not a secure communications medium. Please be aware of this
when replying. All communications sent to or from the County Council
may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with
relevant legislation.
Although East Sussex County Council has taken steps to ensure that this
e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility
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appropriate checks are made.
You can visit our website at http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk
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Josh Gibbens left an annotation ()
Having spoken to the ICO they say there is nothing to "compel the authority to allow me to view the plans", rather the issue they believe is that they may be "failing under there duty in another area".
There appears to be two issues the first is that I originally wanted to view the documents as I knew I was able to do this. As a consequence of the email from Elaine who was on Annual leave I sent an email through the generic form and added a request to obtain copies to the larger FOI I was already intending to send. The second issue that has then arose is that East Sussex County Council's, Freedom of Information Department is of the opinion that it should be considered as one request, even though it appears not to fall under the FOIA or EIR.
In my original email I said: "Some parts of the request may be easier to answer than others. Should this be the case, I request that you release information as soon as possible." The information is available as I demonstrate below, so this raises the question of why they won't let me see it now...
An extract from the Facebook post of February 26 2015 is provided below: "Plans - Requests have been made to view the plans for the work that is going on in the High Street at the moment i.e. the tree pits. These works are part of the flood mitigation works for the High Street and the plans that the contractor is working to are engineering drawings that include other elements of this flood mitigation scheme. As is normal practice, plans for such works are available for viewing at ESCC offices in Lewes. Hard copies are not made available." [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/TCR-project-157.... [Accessed 15 September 2015].
Dear Mr Coleman,
Further to your email I made contact with the ICO this afternoon explaining the context of my initial email to Elaine Martin and our subsequent emails, their advice in brief was as follows: There is nothing to compel your authority to allow me to view the plans under the FOIA/EIR, rather the issue they believe is that ESCC may be failing under their duty in another area. They can't specify what as it's beyond their remit . Below this paragraph I'll try to explain my reasoning.
The issue appears to revolve around the first sentence, I say in my email to Elaine Martin "I'm writing to you to request whether I could view the original and new drawing for the redesigned High Street in Uckfield in the next couple of days?". This wouldn't appear to be an issue because I've previously seen the old 'engineers drawings' this in itself is supported by the following statement on the TCR Project's Facebook page and was what allowed me to view the plans in the first place:
"Plans - Requests have been made to view the plans for the work that is going on in the High Street at the moment i.e. the tree pits. These works are part of the flood mitigation works for the High Street and the plans that the contractor is working to are engineering drawings that include other elements of this flood mitigation scheme. As is normal practice, plans for such works are available for viewing at ESCC offices in Lewes. Hard copies are not made available." [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/TCR-project-157... [Accessed 15 September 2015].
Looking at the first sentence it's detached from the third, the third sentence is reliant on the first sentence, as the emphasis of the sentence is on viewing the plans, and subsequently checking if it were possible to take some digital photos subject to my being allowed to view them. That isn't an FOIA/EIR request in my opinion or the ICO's either. It's also important to note the word 'view', it's significantly different to 'release', to release them would be to make them generally available, to view them would be to see them privately and have no general access to them thereafter.
Based upon the above statements I feel that it's clear that it's not an FOIA/EIR request, this runs contrary to your statement in paragraph 3 "I therefore recommend that in future you direct all requests for information to this team at this email address". The whole issue is that I don't need to make an FOIA/EIR request, I was previously able to ring up the switchboard who connected me to the Highways Department and they arranged an appointment for myself to view them along with Mr S. Imber on behalf of Uckfield Roadworks of which I was a member at the time. Importantly as I'm sure you're aware no FOIA/EIR request was needed, Claire Warwick can confirm our attendance and the event should be recorded in the receptions logbook.
Given the following information and your inclination to process this as an EIR request it strikes me that there should be nothing stopping me from coming in and viewing the drawings, and in turn you could fulfil your statutory obligations. May I please remind you of the seventh paragraph of my initial email that says "Some parts of the request may be easier to answer than others. Should this be the case, I request that you release information as soon as possible." If it were possible to view the drawings and take copies it'd appear that we can fulfil 1a & 1b in the near future, however please correct me if I'm wrong? I would respectfully ask that you reconsider your position on this basis.
Yours sincerely,
Josh Gibbens
Dear Mr Gibbens,
Thank you for your email. I note your comments and refer you to my previous email.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Dear Mr Coleman,
Would you be able clarify your position based on the following hypothetical scenario: If I were to withdraw part 1a & 1b of my request would I be able to view the plans? In your answer please bear in mind that the precedent to do so already exists as per my previous email which clearly demonstrates this.
Yours sincerely,
Josh Gibbens
Dear Mr Gibbens,
I am sorry if my previous emails have not been clear. We have not refused you access to the plans or to the other information that you have sought. We are currently processing your request and we will provide our response in due course.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Dear Mr Coleman,
Could you please provide me with an update in regards to EIR Request: 6027, I'm aware that the deadline for your response is tomorrow and it'd be appreciated if you could let me know whether you expect to meet this deadline?
Yours sincerely,
Josh Gibbens
Dear Mr Gibbens,
We will provide our response within the deadline.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Dear Mr Gibbens
EIR Request ref: 6027 / Uckfield Regeneratrion Project
Thank you for your request for information about the above, which has been
dealt with under the terms of the Environmental Information Regulations
2004 (EIR). Your request and our response are set out in the attached
letter. Please also see Appendix A, which is a chronology of your previous
requests, Appendix B, which contains copies of communications and
documents previously provided and the attached Information Commissioner’s
Guidance.
I hope that this answers your enquiry. If you believe that the County
Council has not complied with the EIR in responding to your request, you
may ask for an internal review. If you wish to do so, please set out the
grounds of your appeal in writing to:
Philip Baker, Assistant Chief Executive, East Sussex County Council,
County Hall, St Anne’s Crescent, Lewes, East Sussex. BN7 1UE.
or by email to him at [1][email address]
Please quote the EIR reference number in any communication regarding this
particular request.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you then
have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision
unless you have exhausted the County Council’s internal review procedure
as described in the previous paragraph. The Commissioner can be contacted
at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Tel: 0303 123 1113. [2]www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Customer Information Officer
East Sussex County Council
Communities, Economy and Transport Directorate
W1D, County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1UE
Phone: 01273 482913
Fax: 01273 481208
email: [3][East Sussex County Council request email] web: [4]www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi
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error please notify the sender and destroy it. You may not use it or copy
it to anyone else.
E-mail is not a secure communications medium. Please be aware of this
when replying. All communications sent to or from the County Council
may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with
relevant legislation.
Although East Sussex County Council has taken steps to ensure that this
e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility
if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the
appropriate checks are made.
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mailto:[email address]
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3. mailto:[East Sussex County Council request email]
4. http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/foi
Dear Mr J. Coleman,
I'd like to apologise if my request/requests appeared vexatious, this wasn't and has never been my intention. I acknowledge that I may have passionately pursued information on occasion owing to my desire to have a clear picture of the project and its actions, my only reason for putting forward deadlines on the handful of times I've done so was to encourage a prompt response from yourself or officers of the council. I acknowledge that by requesting a response by the end of day (EOD) this may have put officers under "undue pressure", this however wasn't my intention and at the time this was guided by a mistaken belief of this being a standard business practice, and a further misunderstanding of the formal etiquette regarding information requests.
On reflection of my early requests (pre June 2015) I accept they may have been directed to the wrong people owing to my inexperience. In respect of my most recent request I believe that whilst your conclusion may have been the same, I could have avoided issues in respect 1a & 1b by informing you sooner of my prior request to view the plans with Elaine Martin, this would have avoided yourself and others wasting their time, for this I sincerely apologise.
In my defence I did not mention this at the time as I genuinely and sincerely believed that I did not require an EIR request to "view" the technical drawings as I'd not needed to previously. If I'd not included 1a & 1b I'd most likely have been able to see them sooner (excluding 1b), as it stands I've had to wait 20 working days, on reflection I should perhaps have waited for a response from Elaine Martin.
In respect of 1b I'd add that I thought the image at the link you directed me to was an "artists impression" as compared to a "technical drawing". The drawing that you've confirmed I'm allowed to see in respect of 1a is a "technical drawing" as it includes the exact measurements, drawing date, alignments, lane width, pavement width, pipes and electricity cables etc (they're calculable), the image you've linked in respect of 1b doesn't include these details.
I'm aware that as a public authority that you've considerable constraints on your time and as such I don't wish to be a further burden on yourself or others within the authority. I'd again apologise if my requests has caused yourself, officers of ESCC or county councillors distress or frustration. Please feel to share this email should your wish with Ms Martin or Mr Reid so that they understand that it was never my intention to cause them distress or frustration.
Finally I don't wish to challenge your decision at this time, although I reserve the right to request an internal review within 40 days if necessary.
Yours sincerely,
Josh Gibbens
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Thank you for your email. I note your comments and accept that you may not have appreciated the burden that you have presented to the authority over time. I can confirm that we will make the new plans available to you when you attend to view the original ones. Please liaise with Elaine Martin regarding this.
I must reiterate that our decision remains the same regarding the other information that you have requested and any future requests in relation to this matter. The option to ask for a review of this decision will remain open to you until 24/11/2015, being 40 working days from today.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Coleman
Customer Information Officer
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Josh Gibbens left an annotation ()
The reason I created an FOI request was because Elaine Martin was on holiday, having spoken to a member of the highways department they confirmed Elaine Martin wouldn't return till the 07/09/2015, in addition to this Claire Warwick (another officer) was unavailable to speak to me at the time. I don't believe my request to view the plans is overridden by my EIR request, I've outlined my position to this effect in the above email.