FI15696
Request
- Please list all open space land sold by the Council, including open space land sold by any of its predecessor authorities, since 13 November 1980.
- If the Council is unable to respond to question 1 (setting out the reason that may be the case), then, in the alternative and to the extent documents are retained and readily available, please list all open space sold by the Council, including open space land sold by any of its predecessor authorities, since 2000.
- With regard to the open space land listed as sold, please confirm whether the advertising requirements at section 123(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972 were followed.
Response
I can confirm that the Council holds information falling within the description specified in your request, however it is not readily available. The information is stored and retained in accordance with the Council’s retention schedule, and for property disposal files this means that original deeds are kept indefinitely. We would have to go through every deed packet (there are roughly 1000 deed packets, each containing a significant number of documents), review the deeds contained within, ascertain whether they were open space and subsequently compile a report detailing this. From our preliminary assessment, we have estimated that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for Local Government it is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2½ working days in determining whether the information is held, locating, retrieving and extracting the data. I regret therefore, that on this occasion I must refuse your request in accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. If you would like to request the information concerning about a specific disposal, then the Council will be able to provide the information.
I can confirm that the Council complies with Section 123 of the Local Government as a matter of due course and process.