ULEZ Legal Challenge
Dear Surrey County Council,
I am making a request for the following recorded information under the Freedom of Information Act:
1. How much taxpayers money have you spent on your failed legal challenge against the expansion of ULEZ?
2. What steps will the Council take to recover the costs from the Conservative Group on your Council?
3. Minutes of internal meetings attended by any Conservative councillor in which the ULEZ legal challenge was discussed.
4. Any communication from staff in which they expressed concerns/misgivings about the legal challenge, such as that there was no legal basis for the challenge or that taxpayers money was being wasted on a politically motivated action. Please include any whistle blowing reports.
5. All communication from Conservative councillors which contained the term "Khan" and any one of the following terms: "Muslim", "Islam", "terrorist" or "Paki". Please ensure all methods of communications are searched including personal messaging services such as WhatsApp, Telegram.
6. All communication from members of the public which contained the term "Khan" and "ULEZ" and any one of the following terms: "Muslim", "Islam", "terrorist" or "Paki".
The time frame for questions 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are from when the ULEZ expansion was announced by the Mayor of London to the date the courts ruled against your legal challenge.
If my request will exceed the cost limit set-out in FOI legislation, please let me know at the earliest opportunity how I may refine my request to be within the cost limit.
Please copy all of your councillors in your final response.
Yours faithfully,
John Moat
Information request
Our reference: 6416601
Your reference: [Cais Rhyddid Gwybodaeth e-bost #1009580 ]
Dear John Moat
Freedom of Information Act 2000
RE: IR - ULEZ
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 28 July
2023
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and we aim to send a response by 29 August 2023.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
and if any exemptions apply to some or all of the information then we
might not provide that information to you. We will inform you if this is
the case and advise you of your rights to request an internal review and
to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
We will also advise you if we cannot provide you with the information
requested for any other reason together with the reason(s) why and details
of how you may appeal (if appropriate).
Yours faithfully
Maggie McCormack
Information Governance Support Officer
Law & Governance - Resources
Surrey County Council | Woodhatch Place | 11 Cockshot Hill | Reigate | RH2
8EF | Working from home | Contact Centre Tel no: 03456 009 009 (9am to
5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays) | | Email:
[cyfeiriad ebost]
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
Surrey County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Surrey County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Surrey County
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.
Information request
Our reference: 6416601
Your reference: [FOI #1009580 email]
Dear John Moat
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I am writing to ask you to clarify your request.
You requested:
1. How much taxpayers money have you spent on your failed legal challenge
against the expansion of ULEZ?
2. What steps will the Council take to recover the costs from the
Conservative Group on your Council?
3. Minutes of internal meetings attended by any Conservative councillor in
which the ULEZ legal challenge was discussed.
4. Any communication from staff in which they expressed
concerns/misgivings about the legal challenge, such as that there was no
legal basis for the challenge or that taxpayers money was being wasted on
a politically motivated action. Please include any whistle blowing
reports.
5. All communication from Conservative councillors which contained the
term "Khan" and any one of the following terms: "Muslim", "Islam",
"terrorist" or "Paki". Please ensure all methods of communications are
searched including personal messaging services such as WhatsApp, Telegram.
6. All communication from members of the public which contained the term
"Khan" and "ULEZ" and any one of the following terms: "Muslim", "Islam",
"terrorist" or "Paki".
Please can you clarify for Qs 5 & 6 who the communication is to from the
Councillors and Public.
I will not be able to take this matter further without this extra
information from you. Please let me know by 1 September 2023.
If I do not hear from you within the timeframe provided, I shall take it
that you do not wish to pursue this request and will consider the request
closed.
In the meantime, your request has been placed on hold.
Yours faithfully
Gary Clothier
Freedom of Information Officer
Law & Governance
Surrey County Council | Woodhatch Place | 11 Cockshot Hill | Reigate | RH2
8EF | Working from home | Contact Centre Tel no: 03456 009 009 (9am to
5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays) | | Email:
[email address]
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
Surrey County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Surrey County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Surrey County
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.
Dear Surrey County Council,
I’m sorry I wasn’t clear
In respect of question 5, communication sent by councillors to anybody, internally or externally.
In respect of question 6, communication from the public sent to anyone at Surrey County Council i.e. staff and councillors.
Yours sincerely,
John Moat
Information request
Our reference: 6416601
Your reference: [FOI #1009580 email]
Dear John Moat,
Thank you for your request for information received on 2 August 2023.
Please find attached our response to your request.
Yours faithfully,
Gary Clothier
Freedom of Information Officer
Law & Governance
Surrey County Council | Woodhatch Place | 11 Cockshot Hill | Reigate | RH2
8EF | Contact Centre Tel no: 03456 009 009 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday,
excluding bank holidays) |
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
Surrey County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Surrey County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Surrey County
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.
Dear Surrey County Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Surrey County Council's handling of my FOI request 'ULEZ Legal Challenge'.
In response to question 3 you state that the minutes are available of your website. This is false. Your website only contains minutes of official committee meetings. I wan to minutes to other internal meetings on the subject matter which were attended by Conservative councillors e.g. meetings with staff, meetings with third party organisations (e.g. the other councils involved in the legal challenge, meetings with external lawyers), Conservative group meetings. I know that local councils have thousands of these non-official internal meetings each year, many which will have an agenda and minutes, particularly when they involve a high profile and contentious issue such as ULEZ.
In response to questions 4 and 5 you state that you hold no information. Please let me know in detail what actions you took to come to the conclusion that you hold no information.
In response to question 6 you state, without carrying searches to see if the information is held, that the information is exempt under GDPR. If the information were you held you could easily redact personal information so as to make them sufficiently anonymised to allow release compatible with GDPR. Local councils, including Surrey County Council, routinely release public views, such as responses to public consultations, after redacting personal information. You have not bothered to do this, you have simply invoked GDPR to evade answering the question.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...
Yours faithfully,
John Moat
Information request
Our reference: 6416601
Your reference: [FOI #1009580 email]
Dear John Moat
INTERNAL REVIEW IR - ULEZ
Thank you for your request for a review received on 25 September 2023. I
am sorry that you are unhappy with the handling of your request under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
I can confirm that we are considering your concerns and we will aim to
provide you with a response by 8th November 2023.
Yours faithfully
Helen Gilbert
Information Governance Officer
Law & Governance - Resources
Surrey County Council | Woodhatch Place | 11 Cockshot Hill | Reigate | RH2
8EF | Working from home | Contact Centre Tel no: 03456 009 009 (9am to
5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays) | [mobile number]
| Email: [email address]
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
Surrey County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Surrey County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Surrey County
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now