The Need to identify preferred developer status re Bognor Regis Regeneration

The request was refused by Arun District Council.

Dear Arun District Council,

BACKGROUND TO REQUEST

Minute 315 of the Council 11.11.2015:
"Councillor Mrs Brown reminded the Council to
 consider only the decision before it for the agenda item concerned
 concentrate on the ‘what’ not the ‘who’; and
 however compelling an offer from one organisation might be at this stage in the Council’s business programme, it was important for Agenda Item 27 that the Council kept its options open because it had a duty to follow the required statutory processes for
o EU procurement for contracts and development partners
o Market testing for best value for grant of leases
o Land law issues for existing commercial tenants of the
Council and the restrictive covenants that attach to the
land"

....

"As Members were aware, there was an alternative proposal for the redevelopment of these two key sites and they would have an opportunity later on the agenda to consider that item on behalf of the Council as landowner and to say whether they wished to support that particular form of development."

Minute 324 (ibid)
"She stated that it was regrettable that the planning application had come in at this time as the Council had not yet made its formal position known and, particularly, as the developers had been asked not to do so. "

Minute 229 of 10.09.2014
"It was acknowledged that any schemes that were put forward had to be commercially viable and economically deliverable. Funding could not come out of the public purse and must not be at a cost to the people of Bognor Regis."

ibid

"(2) the Council continues to progress regeneration in Bognor Regis by undertaking the following:-
(i) before submitting its own planning applications for the Regis Centre site, including Place St Maur, and the Hothamton Sites (separately), the Council to undertake public consultation in early 2015 on the core elements of the individual schemes as set out in Section 6 of the
report and Annexes B and C to this report and invite the public to suggest complementary and commercially viable alternatives or additions, for consideration by the Council
with the results of the public consultation to be reported back to the Council;"

REQUEST:

The Council has declared its intention to be the developer of the sites. It intends to submit planning applications re its own plans therefore. At that stage should not there be a proper tendering process to identify and secure Preferred Developer status, including consideration of financial sustainability of competing developers such as the Council and the Sir Richard Hotham Project with a view to securing best value?

Yours faithfully,

Jan Cosgrove

Infomanagement, Arun District Council

Dear Mr Cosgrove

 

Thank you for your Information Request received on 7 March 2018.

 

REQUEST:

 

BACKGROUND TO REQUEST

 

Minute 315 of the Council 11.11.2015:

"Councillor Mrs Brown reminded the Council to · consider only the decision
before it for the agenda item concerned · concentrate on the ‘what’ not
the ‘who’; and · however compelling an offer from one organisation might
be at this stage in the Council’s business programme, it was important for
Agenda Item 27 that the Council kept its options open because it had a
duty to follow the required statutory processes for o EU procurement for
contracts and development partners o Market testing for best value for
grant of leases o Land law issues for existing commercial tenants of the
Council and the restrictive covenants that attach to the land"

 

....

 

"As Members were aware, there was an alternative proposal for the
redevelopment of these two key sites and they would have an opportunity
later on the agenda to consider that item on behalf of the Council as
landowner and to say whether they wished to support that particular form
of development."

 

Minute 324 (ibid)

"She stated that it was regrettable that the planning application had come
in at this time as the Council had not yet made its formal position known
and, particularly, as the developers had been asked not to do so. "

 

Minute 229 of 10.09.2014

"It was acknowledged that any schemes that were put forward had to be
commercially viable and economically deliverable. Funding could not come
out of the public purse and must not be at a cost to the people of Bognor
Regis."

 

ibid

 

"(2) the Council continues to progress regeneration in Bognor Regis by
undertaking the following:-

(i) before submitting its own planning applications for the Regis Centre
site, including Place St Maur, and the Hothamton Sites (separately), the
Council to undertake public consultation in early 2015 on the core
elements of the individual schemes as set out in Section 6 of the report
and Annexes B and C to this report and invite the public to suggest
complementary and commercially viable alternatives or additions, for
consideration by the Council with the results of the public consultation
to be reported back to the Council;"

 

REQUEST:

 

The Council has declared its intention to be the developer of the sites. 
It intends to submit planning applications re its own plans therefore at
that stage should not there be a proper tendering process to identify and
secure Preferred Developer status, including consideration of financial
sustainability of competing developers such as the Council and the Sir
Richard Hotham Project with a view to securing best value?

 

RESPONSE:

 

Thank you for your information request as shown above.

 

Information Management should like to take this opportunity to draw your
attention to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in the
hope that this will assist you with future requests.

 

Section 1(1)(a) of the Act states that:

 

“Any person making a request for information to a public authority is
entitled to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it
holds information of the description specified in the request.”

 

Furthermore, section 8(1)(c) of the Act requires a person making a request
to describe the information requested.

 

Information requests are therefore expected to fulfil the requirements of
section 8 in order to constitute valid requests and must describe the
information requested of the Council.  The Information Commissioner has
considered whether general questions fall into this remit and he has
concluded that public authorities are not required to answer questions
generally unless the answers are already held in a recorded form.

 

The information you are seeking above is not held by the Council in
recorded form and therefore the Council does not consider your request to
be valid for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  In this
instance, your questions have been passed to the Planning Department with
a request that they respond to you directly on the information you are
seeking.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can write asking for a review of the Council’s response,
within the next two months, to the Information Management Team at: Arun
District Council, Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, West
Sussex, BN17 5LF (email [1][Arun District Council request email]).

 

If, having exhausted our review procedure, you remain dissatisfied with
the handling of your request or complaint, you will have a right to appeal
to the Information Commissioner at: The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (telephone: 0303
123 1113; website [2]www.ico.org.uk).  There is no charge for making an
appeal.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Information Management Team

Arun District Council

 

 

 

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| Information Management Team  |  [3]Arun District Council | |
| Location: First Floor, |
| |
| Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5LF |
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| Internal: 37709 | External: +44 (0) 1903 737709 | E-mail: |
| [4][Arun District Council request email] |
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| Visit Arun's web site at [5]www.arun.gov.uk  P Save the environment - |
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[6]http://www.arun.gov.uk
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References

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Dear Arun District Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Arun District Council's handling of my FOI request 'The Need to identify preferred developer status re Bognor Regis Regeneration'.

I ask for the internal review for the following reasons:

1. The Council knows it wishes to be the developer, this is recorded in its minutes as quoted in the original request;

2. It also knows there is an existing planning application from another external developer which it has refused and which now is the subject of a completed appeal whose results are to be given shortly, and that that developer has submitted detailed plans and costings within a stated budget.

3. The Council therefore knows that the conditions for deciding on competing applications will obtain, the Council is an interested party, and thus must distance itself sufficiently to ensure full transparency and public confidence in the process. To refuse the request puts the Council at risk of legal challenge and judicial review, so it must answer this question to detail how that will be done.

The future of the Town rests very much on this issue over many decades ahead, the question asked is fully valid and the answer must not be obsfuscated by recourse to flimsy justification of exemption. You therefore are asked to find for this challenge to the refusal and to answer fully.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...

Yours faithfully,

Jan Cosgrove

Liz Futcher, Arun District Council

Dear Mr Cosgrove

 

I have been passed your request for an internal review dated 1 April
2018.  My reading of your original request is that you are asking about
the tendering process to identify and secure preferred developer status
for the Regis Centre and Hothamton sites in Bognor Regis now that the
Council has confirmed its intention to develop these sites. 

 

The original response of 23 March 2018 advised that the Council does not
consider your request to be valid for the purposes of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 as the information you are seeking is not held in
recorded form. 

 

I have reviewed your request further with both the Group Head of Economy,
Denise Vine and the Director of Place, Karl Roberts.  They have confirmed
that they have no information to provide in a recorded form.  What they
have confirmed is that at this point, they are progressing the decisions
of Arun’s Full Council as set out in:

·        Minute 494 – Full Council 8 March 2017 (The Regis Centre &
Hothamton Car Park Feasibility Studies Update)

·        Minute 366 – Full Council 10 January 2018 (Hothamton Linear Park
Regeneration Proposals)

 

You can view these minutes from this link: 
[1]https://www.arun.gov.uk/full-council

 

As confirmed in the original response, Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 entitles you as a person making a request for
information to be informed by the public authority where it holds
information of the description specified in the request.  From my internal
review, I can confirm that the Council does not hold the information you
are seeking in your request.

 

The original response also stated that your question would be passed to
the Group Head of Economy to review and establish whether she can provide
any other relevant information on the regeneration projects.  I can
confirm that the question has been passed to Ms Vine.  However, please be
aware that she is on holiday currently and won't be able to respond before
16 April.

 

As I have concluded the internal review of your information request you
now have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner if you remain
dissatisfied with the way in which the Council has handled your request.
Appeals should be directed to the Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (telephone: 0303
123 1113). More details can be found on the website www.ico.gov.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

Liz Futcher

Data Protection Officer

 

 

 

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [2]Liz Futcher | Group Head of Council Advice and Monitoring |
| Officer, [3]Arun District Council | Location: Second Floor, Arun Civic |
| Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5LF |
| Internal: 37610 | External: +44 (0) 1903 737610 | E-mail: |
| [4][email address] |
| |
| Visit Arun's web site at [5]www.arun.gov.uk  P Save the environment - |
| think before you print. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

 

[6]http://www.arun.gov.uk
NLPG UPRN 100062237016 
DX 57406 Littlehampton

Important Notice This e-mail is intended exclusively for the addressee and
may contain information that is confidential and/or privileged. If you are
not the intended recipient (or authorised to receive it for the
addressee), please notify the sender and delete the e-mail immediately;
using, copying, or disclosing it to anyone else, is strictly prohibited
and may be unlawful. Any views, opinions or options presented are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Arun
District Council. The information in this e-mail may be subject to public
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, therefore we cannot
guarantee that we will not provide the whole or part of this e-mail to a
third party. The Council reserves the right to monitor e-mails in
accordance with relevant legislation. Whilst outgoing e-mails are checked
for viruses, we cannot guarantee this e-mail is virus-free or has not been
intercepted or changed and we do not accept liability for any damage
caused. Any reference to "e-mail" in this disclaimer includes any
attachments.
**********************************************************************

References

Visible links
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