Nocton Hall - FoI correspondence

"Even in the current economic climate money must be found to weatherproof these buildings and protect them from vandals. Future generations won't forgive us for leaving our heritage to deteriorate beyond repair."

Dr Ian Dungavell [The Victorian Society]
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/6298352/Most-endangered-Victorian-buildings-identified.html

Freedom of Information request

This is my correspondence to date with North Kesteven District Council. As you can see I am trying to obtain the underlying data relating to Council's considerations and actions relating to the preservation of Nocton Hall. The following emails are self-explanatory and are in date order:

"From: Geoff Hall
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 8:00 AM
To: Freedom of Information @ NKDC
Cc: Nocton Parish Council
Subject: NOCTON HALL - Freedom of Information Request

Dear Sir/Madam,
I have been in correspondence with Karen Bradford and Andrew McDonough about Nocton Hall with minimal progress I’m afraid. It is for that reason I have copied correspondence to District and County Councillors, and others. When I wrote to Marianne Overton about making a formal FoI request, she responded, ‘There is no problem with such a freedom of information request. Sometimes it is helpful to have it catalogued.’

Hence my formal request below:
“I hereby request under Freedom of Information, an account of all NKDC’s

• Considerations
• Decisions
• Actions
• Outcomes
• Applicable dates

with regard to the protection of Nocton Hall as a heritage property in the district of North Kesteven for the period:

• Year 2000 (when Leda Properties gained possession of the property and grounds) to current date.

I also request copies of all Minutes/Notes of meetings relating to/supporting the above.”

Yours faithfully,
GM Hall"
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"From: Freedom of information
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 9:19 AM
To: Geoff Hall
Subject: FOI Request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall
Ref No: 11/0588
7 September 2011

Dear Mr Hall
Thank you for your email of 7 September 2011 which we received on the same day requesting information regarding : Nocton Hall.

Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.

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 will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely
Helen Snowden
FOI/Complaints Assistant
North Kesteven District Council"
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"From: Freedom of information
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 5:52 PM
To: Geoff Hall
Subject: FOI Request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall
Ref No: 11/0588
3 October 2011

Dear Mr Hall
Thank you for your email of 7 September 2011 requesting information regarding : Nocton Hall.
The information you requested is enclosed:

Further to your request, I can advise that a great deal of information relating to Nocton Hall is already available on the Council’s website. Various reports have been considered since 2000 and can be viewed by clicking on the following link - http://nkdc.moderngov.co.uk/ieDocSearch.aspx?bcr=1 - and entering the search term ‘Nocton Hall’.

In addition, any planning application history on the site is available online at www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/planningonline. Once you click on the link and have accepted the copyright notice, you can either search using ‘Nocton Hall’ as the address or you can search for applications within Nocton in certain time periods using the advanced search facility.

There is also some information regarding the Hall site in the SHLAA (Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment) which is available online at http://www.ourcityourfuture.co.uk/shlaa. Page 111 of Appendix 3: SHLAA Update March 2011 on the webpage refers to the Nocton Hall site.
As this information is already accessible via a public domain, this information is exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

As you are already aware, the District Council has been working with English Heritage on an options appraisal for the Hall, however, this is not yet at a stage where the details can be shared with the public. The options appraisal will be made publicly available at the appropriate time in the near future. Therefore, this information is considered exempt at this time under Section 22 (1a) and (1c) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We have also assessed this under the public interest test and consider that it would not in the public interest to release incomplete information at this time.

There are also various documents which are exempt under Section 31 (1g) and (2c) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as releasing the information may have an adverse affect on any potential enforcement action that may need to be taken at some point in the future.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to Michelle Carrington, Head of Strategy and Customer Services, North Kesteven District Council, Kesteven Street, Sleaford, Lincs, NG34 7EF.

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, 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.

Yours sincerely
Helen Snowden
FOI/Complaints Assistant
North Kesteven District Council"
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"From: Geoff Hall
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 8:14 AM
To: Michelle Carrington
Subject: Fw: FOI Request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall

Dear Ms Carrington,
I am of the opinion that this response by the FoI team at North Kesteven District Council does not satisfy the requirements of my formal request and your legal responsibilities contained in the Act.  If all I wanted to access was the data already published in the public domain, then of course I already have access to the links provided.
My request was for:

“An account of all NKDC’s

• Considerations
• Decisions
• Actions
• Outcomes
• Applicable Dates

with regard to the protection of Nocton Hall as a heritage property in the district of North Kesteven...” etc.

I’m sure you have my original correspondence. What I am seeking is all the underlying documents re: Officer’s meetings/emails etc that lead up to the formal actions recorded on your website. I believe you are duty bound to supply copies for me to consider. I would be amazed if all these fall within the exceptions stated and am astonished that not even one document has been provided to me for perusal.

Please will you look into this further via an Internal Review and respond accordingly, as I shall be pursuing this with your Chief Executive and Stephen Phillips QC MP if satisfaction is not received.

Yours sincerely,
GM Hall"
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"From: Geoff Hall
Sent: 06 October 2011 11:08
To: Freedom of information
Cc: Cllr John Money; Cllr Rob Kendrick; Nocton Parish Council
Subject: Fw: FOI Request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall

Dear Ms Snowden,
I refer to our telephone conversation on 4th October when I expressed dissatisfaction with the response to my FoI request.

Having experience of requesting FoI data with other public organisations in the past, I am utterly dismayed with NKDC’s response. I find it hard to believe that not a single ‘hard copy’ or electronic underlying document exists concerning Council Officer’s considerations.  I can appreciate that parts of content may need to be redacted, but at very least I would have expected a portfolio of paperwork relating to your Officer’s considerations and actions, leading up to when decisions were finalised by the various Committees/Panels.

There is no problem accessing the information already published in public domain (as per the links kindly provided) and I wouldn’t have taken the trouble to make a formal FoI request if that was all I required!

I have therefore requested an Internal Review and will raise this matter with the Information Commissioner and others if not satisfied with the outcome.

Yours sincerely,
GM Hall"
_________________________________
"From: Freedom of information
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 12:26 PM
To: Geoff Hall
Subject: Internal Review of FOI Request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall

Dear Mr Hall
Thank you for your email of 6 October 2011 asking for an internal review of our response to your Freedom of Information request relating to Nocton Hall.

I am writing to confirm that Michelle Carrington, Head of Strategy and Customer Services will undertake this internal review.

We aim to respond within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely
Helen Snowden
FOI/Complaints Assistant
North Kesteven District Council"
___________________________________
"From: Freedom of information
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 3:01 PM
To: Geoff Hall
Subject: Internal Review of FOI Request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall

Dear Mr Hall
I have been asked by Michelle to offer her apologises in relation to the internal review of your Freedom of Information request regarding Nocton Hall.

A reply on this matter may well take another 2 weeks beyond the expiry date of 3 November 2011.

Yours sincerely
Helen Snowden
FOI/Complaints Assistant
North Kesteven District Council"
____________________________________
From: Geoff Hall
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 1:52 PM
To: Freedom of information
Cc: Nocton Parish Council; John Money [COUNCILLOR] ; Rob Kendrick [COUNCILLOR] ; Karen Bradford [NKDC] ; Stephen Phillips [MP]
Subject: FoI request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall

Dear Ms Snowden,
I refer to my email of 6th October to Michelle Carrington requesting an internal review of my formal request. As you know I did not feel NKDC had met the formal requirements of the Act with their response.

I was advised on 20th October that Michelle would not be able to respond by the expiry date of 3rd November... and that it would take another two weeks to complete the review.

Unfortunately, there has been no attempt to keep me informed of progress and therefore, particularly in view of the delay, I would appreciate an interim report on how things are progressing please.  For example, I now understand Karen Bradford is arranging to meet with two of our Parish Councillors over the matter of Nocton Hall and the Options Appraisal.

Perhaps you may like to comment on this too?

Yours sincerely,
Geoff Hall

N.B. You may also like to note I too will become a Parish Councillor for Nocton with effect from noon 16th November.
__________________________________
From: Karen Bradford
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 2:19 PM
To: Geoff Hall ; Freedom of information
Cc: Nocton Parish Council; Cllr John Money ; Cllr Rob Kendrick ; Stephen Phillips [MP]
Subject: RE: FoI request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall

Dear Geoff
In response to your email below. I can confirm that I am meeting with your Chairman and Vice Chairman shortly, at their request,  to discuss the draft Options Appraisal for Nocton Hall.
I can also confirm that Officers have met with English Heritage on the 31st Oct and we will be attending the December Parish Council meeting, along with English Heritage, to present the findings of the Options Appraisal.

I am still unclear why you are raising these matters formally under the FOI system when the Councils Officers have been keeping you informed for your BLOG, Officers and appointed Consultants have attended Parish Council meetings to report on completed pieces of work and the proposed framework for the Options Appraisal.

Look forward to seeing you again in December.

Regards
Karen
_______________________________
From: Geoff Hall
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 3:26 PM
To: Karen Bradford
Cc: Nocton Parish Council; John Money [COUNCILLOR] ; Rob Kendrick [COUNCILLOR] ; Stephen Phillips [MP]
Subject: Re: FoI request 11/0588 - Nocton Hall

Dear Karen,
Thank you for this information, however you seem to be unclear about my intentions behind the FoI request.

I have no particular issue with current progress over Nocton Hall, other than that Council procedures seem to be indeterminably slow, with only small amounts of piecemeal information being released into the public domain... and only then when ‘prompted’ by direct correspondence or telephone call.

I accept there are certain matters of a legal nature, that may prejudice any future actions by NKDC, that cannot be discussed, however my aim of the FoI is to record all actions taken to save Nocton Hall over a much longer period i.e. from year 2000 to date. After all this is a building very much at risk, with an amazing history to it... which is held in high regard by Nocton residents... and any action taken by the Local Authority will also form part of the historical record.

I have no other way of accessing Councils Officer’s actions over the years, behind what is already recorded in the public domain, but this is exactly the information I am seeking to obtain which will form part of the ‘jigsaw’ of this once fine heritage property when it has been collated together. Hence the Freedom of Information request.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say on the following when we meet in December:

• How any ‘negotiations’ with Leda Properties are progressing.
• When the Options Appraisal report will be published out in the public domain.
• What the outcomes are in respect of the Options Appraisal.

Best regards,

Geoff

_______________________________
From: Geoff Hall
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2011 12:23 PM
To: Freedom of Information
Cc: John Money [COUNCILLOR] ; Rob Kendrick [COUNCILLOR] ; Nocton Parish Council; Stephen Phillips [MP]
Subject: Internal Review

Dear Helen and Michelle,
I requested an Internal Review over the limited content supplied by NKDC following my FoI request of 7th September (11/0588). You aimed to ‘respond within 20 working days’ of my email of 6th October... this expired 3rd November.

During the period leading up to this date, you wrote to me again on 20th October with an apology, saying that ‘a reply on this matter may well take another 2 weeks beyond this expiry date of 3rd November 2011’.

Despite your suggested 2-week extension elapsing on 17th November... it is now 27th November and I still haven’t received the findings of your Internal Review.

This further delay is most unsatisfactory and even though I gave you an opportunity to let me have initial findings on 14th November, no response has been forthcoming from yourselves on this particular matter.

Please note I now intend submitting copies of all my correspondence to the Information Commissioner, who will no doubt want to review this on my behalf. I shall however delay this action until 1st December to give you one final chance to let me have a full response.

Yours sincerely,
Geoff
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Authors Note: The two blog entries of 10th May and 21st September give further background.

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