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Pot hole complaints Broadway

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Dear Manchester City Council,

I respectfully request the following information relating to Broadway (A663) between 01/02/21 - 14/03/21 only;

1) Copies of all of the reports regarding potholes. (Removing or redacting any personal information from the reporting person)

1a) If the above is not possible then all reports that cover Broadway (A663) from the Junction of Hollinwood Ave to the Junction of Oldham Road.

2) How many potholes were reported between the above dates

3) How many potholes were repaired between the above dates

Yours faithfully,

L Daniel

foi@manchester.gov.uk, Manchester City Council

We acknowledge receipt of your request to Manchester City Council,
concerning:

Pot hole complaints Broadway

If your request comes under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or
the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), we will aim to
respond as promptly as we can and by no later than 20 working days.
Sometimes an extension to that timescale will apply and we will let you
know if that is the case.

If some or all of your request needs to be considered under processes
other than those provided by FOIA or EIR, different timescales may apply.
In particular, any part of your request that concerns your own personal
information will be considered in line with your rights under data
protection legislation (including the right of access) and we will aim to
provide you with a response in respect of that part of your request
without undue delay and by no later than one calendar month, unless an
extension to that timescale applies (we will let you know if that is the
case).

 

The reference number for your request is FOI/4352.

 

Please note that Manchester City Council is currently handling a large
volume of business critical work aimed towards the protection and
safeguarding of at risk groups during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Accordingly, Freedom of Information/subject access requests made to
Manchester City Council during the COVID-19 outbreak may have a longer
response period than that stated above. The response that you receive may
also not be complete in whole or in part. This is because:

 

* Responding to your request may require business area resource which is
currently directed towards direct aid of members of the public during
the COVID-19 outbreak. Directing resources towards responding to your
request could result in vital care of service not being delivered, and
may expose individuals to COVID-19;?
* Under central government guidance to help prevent the spread of
COVID-19, all Manchester City Council staff who are able to are
working from home until further notice. As such they may not be able
to get hold of certain information which cannot be accessed remotely,
and accessing it would potentially expose the individual to COVID-19.

Should you have any further inquiries concerning your request, please
reply to this email leaving the subject line unchanged.

Yours sincerely
Manchester City Council

Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to our privacy
notice at [1]www.manchester.gov.uk/privacy for further information.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.manchester.gov.uk/privacy

foi@manchester.gov.uk, Manchester City Council

9 April 2021

 

Dear L Daniel

 

Request for Information – Pothole Complaints Ref: FOI/4352

 

Thank you for your request for information, which was received by
Manchester City Council on 14 March 2021.  The Council has considered the
information requested and is satisfied that it falls within the broad
definition of “environmental information” in the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIR).  Your request for information has therefore been
considered under the provisions of the EIR.

 

I set out below your request for information and the Council’s response.

 

I respectfully request the following information relating to Broadway
(A663) between 01/02/21 - 14/03/21 only;
1) Copies of all of the reports regarding potholes. (Removing or redacting
any personal information from the reporting person)

1a) If the above is not possible then all reports that cover Broadway
(A663) from the Junction of Hollinwood Ave to the Junction of Oldham Road.

 

Broadway (A663) falls within both Manchester City Council and Oldham
Council’s boundaries. The junction of Hollinwood Avenue to the junction
with Oldham Road is maintained by Oldham Council. For the information you
have requested, you will need to redirect your request to Oldham Council;
the link to their relevant webpage has been provided below:

[1]Freedom of information | Freedom of information | Oldham Council

For the short stretch of Broadway that falls within the boundary of Manchester City Council, we are unable to provide you with the requested information, as this is exempt pursuant to:R12 (5) (b) – The Course of JusticeR12(5)(b) provides that information is exempt where disclosure would prejudice the course of justice, the ability of a person to receive a fair trial or the ability of a public authority to conduct an inquiry of a criminal or disciplinary nature.You will appreciate that EIR/FoIA is applicant and purpose blind. The main consideration is whether or not the requested information is capable of release to the world at large, regardless of the motives or interest of the person or organisation making the actual request. Taking this into consideration, if individuals seek to bring compensation claims for poorly maintained highways, they are obliged to provide details of the highway and evidence of the damage, but also the date or short period of time in which they believe the damage occurred. Consequently details of reports submitted by the public along with information recorded on highway safety inspections, are used for validating claims. The public disclosure of this information could allow individuals to identify road defects that the Council had knowledge of, but had not yet repaired, therefore facilitating claims that are fraudulent.

 

All of the exceptions under the EIR are subject to the “public interest
test” therefore, the Council has gone on to consider the public arguments.

Public interest factors in favour of disclosure

* The general public interest in transparency
* There is a clear interest in public authorities being accountable in
relation to their responsibilities, particularly when these relate to
public safety.

Public interest factors in favour of maintaining the exception

* The Council has a legal responsibility to tackle fraud and to protect
the public purse from fraudulent claims.
* The disclosure of the withheld information would hinder the Council in
fulfilling this obligation, as it would provide information which
would aid in allowing individuals to know how long it takes to address
defects which are found. This could potentially aid fraudulent
claimants.

In addition, to considering the public interest factors we have also taken
into consideration the Decision Notice FER0502491 relating to Birmingham
City Council
[2]https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...
guidance issued by the Information Commissioners Office.

 

Taking the above factors into account, and having applied the presumption
in favour of disclosure, I have determined that the public interest
favours maintaining the exception.

 

Please note: There is a process for submitting claims should you consider
vehicle damage is a result of a highway defect.  A claim form can be
requested by emailing [3][email address] or by telephoning 0161
234 5004.  Once a claim form has been submitted, any relevant
documentation will be disclosed to the claimant or legal representative
enabling them to proceed accordingly. This information is released outside
of the FOI/EIR legislation and therefore disclosure is not to the wider
world.

 

2) How many potholes were reported between the above dates (01/02/21 -
14/03/21)? One pothole/cavity report was recorded by Manchester Contact
Centre, for the stretch of Broadway that falls within Manchester Council’s
boundary.

 

Please note: When a customer contacts the Council, the request is recorded
as one report. It should be noted that multiple requests may have been
generated reporting the same defect and a single report may contain more
than one report of a defect. There may have been other pothole /cavities
reported to the Council but not recorded.

3) How many potholes were repaired  between the above dates (01/02/21 -
14/03/21)? 

Where actionable defects are identified these are placed on works orders.
The orders may contain multiple defects and not necessarily reflect the
numbers of defects identified. For example there may be instances where
there are larger areas of defects which cover multiple potholes. These
would be grouped as one actionable area for repairing. We therefore do not
hold this information.

 

If you are not satisfied with the response to your request, you may ask
the Council for an internal review. This will be undertaken by an officer
not involved in handling your request. If you wish an internal review to
be undertaken you should contact the   Democratic Services Legal Team who
can be contacted by post or email:

Democratic Services Legal Team

PO Box 532

Town Hall

Manchester

M60 2LA

Email:  [MCC request email]

 

When requesting an internal review, please explain which parts of the
request handling and/or response you are unhappy with so that we can
address your concerns in the internal review process.

 

A copy of the Council’s access to information complaints procedure can be
accessed here:

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/d...
you do not have internet access and require a paper copy, please let me
know.

 

If you are not happy with the outcome of the internal review process once
it is completed, you have the right to apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted
at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545700

Fax: 01625 524510

Email: [email address]

www.ico.org.uk

 

The Information Commissioner will generally expect that you have exhausted
the Council’s Information Complaints Procedure before he will consider a
complaint.

 

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

 

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Gillham

Head of Network Management

Highways Service, Growth and Neighbourhoods Directorate
Manchester City Council
 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200148/da...
2. https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...
3. mailto:[email address]

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are L Daniel please sign in and let everyone know.