Window complaints at tower blocks

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

FOI request: FOI-2100

 

Thank you for your request dated 19/06/2024

 

Your request will be answered by 17/07/2024

 

If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the
reference number above.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [1]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

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Dear Sir/Madam

 

FOI request: FOI-2100

Please accept our sincere apologies for a delay in providing a response to
your Freedom of Information request. We apologise for any inconvenience
this may cause. The service providing you with your response has been
chased today and they do remain committed to responding to your request as
soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information Team

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [1]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

From: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2024 8:57 AM
To: 'Alex Clark' <[FOI #1140611 email]>
Cc: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Subject: FOI-2100: Freedom of Information request - Window complaints at
tower blocks

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

FOI request: FOI-2100

 

Thank you for your request dated 19/06/2024

 

Your request will be answered by 17/07/2024

 

If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the
reference number above.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [2]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

FOI request: FOI-2100

 

Thank you for your request dated 19/06/2024

 

Our response is as follows:

I am requesting information regarding complaints made and safety concerns
raised by residents of high-rise tower blocks owned and/or managed by the
council with regards to windows. Specifically, the perceived risk by
residents of someone falling out of the windows. Please provide me with
the following information.

 

1. A list of all tower blocks owned/managed by the council.

Please see attached list of blocks with 6 or more storeys.

 

2. For each tower block, please detail how many complaints/safety concerns
have been made by residents with regards to the windows in the past five
years. These can be but not limited to complaints/concerns about the
extent to which the windows open, or the extent to which the windows are
unprotected from the outside.

Section 12 (1) does not oblige a local authority to comply with a request
for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with
the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004 (“the Fees Regulations) sets the appropriate limit
at £450 for the public authority in question. Under these Regulations, a
public authority can charge a maximum of £25 per hour for work undertaken
to comply with a request. This equates to 18 hours work.

 

A public authority is only required to provide a reasonable estimate or
breakdown of costs and in putting together its estimate it can take the
following processes into consideration:-

 

 a. Determining whether it holds the information
 b. Locating the information, or a document which may contain the
information;
 c. Retrieving the information, or a document which may contain the
information, and
 d. Extracting the information from a document containing it.

 

We have estimated the length of time it will take to do the following
tasks in accordance with Section 12.

 

Please find below our explanation for this exemption under our reply to
Question 3.

 

3. Please detail for each tower block what remedial work has been
undergone in response to these complaints/safety concerns, if any.

Section 12 (1) does not oblige a local authority to comply with a request
for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with
the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004 (“the Fees Regulations) sets the appropriate limit
at £450 for the public authority in question. Under these Regulations, a
public authority can charge a maximum of £25 per hour for work undertaken
to comply with a request. This equates to 18 hours work.

 

A public authority is only required to provide a reasonable estimate or
breakdown of costs and in putting together its estimate it can take the
following processes into consideration:-

 

 a. Determining whether it holds the information
 b. Locating the information, or a document which may contain the
information;
 c. Retrieving the information, or a document which may contain the
information, and
 d. Extracting the information from a document containing it.

 

We have estimated the length of time it will take to do the following
tasks in accordance with Section 12.

 

Please find below our explanation for this exemption.

 

Determining whether we hold the information and locating the information.

The information is held in Northgate, our repairs system and on our
complaints log which is on Microsoft Excel. Both are electronic systems. 

There are a total of 326 complaints.

 

Retrieving and extracting the information.

To retrieve and extract the information, one officer will have to carry
out the following actions:

• Open Complaints log in Excel and open the Excel spreadsheet with the
list of tower blocks (30 secs)
• Search the Complaints log to ascertain which complaints we have for
the specific tower block (30 secs)
• Retrieve and read the complaint to confirm the complaint is related to
windows (2 mins)
• Open Northgate database for the specific address. Once on the address,
search for window repairs (to see if more than one repair has taken
place). Look through notes to confirm what action/repair took place (1
min)
• Extract the requested information (1 min)

 

Time taken to open our databases and read through one case file to see if
it holds the requested information, this would take approximately 5
minutes (1 minute to open the complaints log on Excel to locate and search
for the tower block, and 2 minutes to read the complaint to see if it
holds the requested information, 1 minute to open Northgate database to
search address for repairs and 1 minute to retrieve and extract the
repairs information held in the Northgate database).

 

(5 minutes x 326 records) = 27.16 hours

 

Total time to locate, retrieve and extract information = 27.16 hours

 

We estimate that it will take us in excess of 18 hours to determine the
appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract the information in
reference to your request. The council is not obliged to comply with this
request because it exceeds the appropriate limit.

 

Section 16 of the Act imposes an obligation on public authorities to
provide advice and assistance to a person making a request, so far as it
is reasonable to do so.

In order to provide you with advice and assistance we suggest you reduce
the timeframe of your request to ask for this information in the last 12
months.

 

 

 

If you have any queries about this correspondence, please contact me,
quoting the reference number above.

 

If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you can ask
for an Internal Review.  Internal review requests must be submitted within
two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original
request.  If you wish to do this, please contact us in writing, setting
out why you are dissatisfied.

 

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. 
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. You can contact the ICO
by emailing [1][email address], or by post at Customer Contact,
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
SK9 5AF.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [2]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

From: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2024 4:27 PM
To: '[FOI #1140611 email]'
<[FOI #1140611 email]>
Cc: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Subject: FW: FOI-2100: Freedom of Information request - Window complaints
at tower blocks

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

FOI request: FOI-2100

Please accept our sincere apologies for a delay in providing a response to
your Freedom of Information request. We apologise for any inconvenience
this may cause. The service providing you with your response has been
chased today and they do remain committed to responding to your request as
soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information Team

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [3]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

From: foi <[4][Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2024 8:57 AM
To: 'Alex Clark' <[5][FOI #1140611 email]>
Cc: foi <[6][Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Subject: FOI-2100: Freedom of Information request - Window complaints at
tower blocks

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

FOI request: FOI-2100

 

Thank you for your request dated 19/06/2024

 

Your request will be answered by 17/07/2024

 

If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the
reference number above.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [7]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

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