13 May 2016
Dear Mr Davies
Re: - Request for Information – Project Forward GAN/A84GBL
Thank you for your request for information, which was received by Manchester City Council on and has been considered under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004(EIR).
Your request has been considered under the EIR as information regarding the development or use of land in respect of Project Forward affects the land and is therefore considered as environmental information under Regulation 2(1) of the EIR. The relevant part of the definition are found in Reg 2(1)(a) to (c) which state that it is as any information in any material form on:
‘(a) the state of the elements of the environment, such as air and atmosphere, water, soil, land, landscape and natural sites including wetlands, coastal and marine areas, biological diversity and its components, including genetically modified organisms, and the interaction among these elements;
(b) factors, such as substances, energy, noise, radiation or waste, including radioactive waste, emissions, discharges and other releases into the environment, affecting or likely to affect the elements of the environment referred to in (a);
(c) measures (including administrative measures), such as policies, legislation, plans, programmes, environmental agreements, and activities affecting or likely to affect the elements and factors referred to in (a) and (b) as well as measures or activities designed to protect those elements
I set out below your request and our response:
1. Copies of all meeting minutes
2. Copies all documents that are stored either in electronic format
or in non electronic format that relate or mention Project Forward
3. Copies of all emails that have been sent to any stakeholder,
person, company or central government department that relate or
mention Project Forward
4. Copies of all financial details, budgets and any other financial
information held that relate or mention Project Forward
5. A list of Council stakeholders with their name and job title
that relate to Project Forward
6. Any other documents that relate to this project that have not
been explicitly requested in points 1 - 5
It is estimated that the statutory cost limit of £450 (which is calculated as being approximately 2.5 days of a council officer's time to determine whether the Council holds the information and to locate, retrieve and extract it) will be exceeded if the Council supplied the requested information to you. If you require more information about the Council’s Fees & Charges Policy, this may be downloaded from http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=1322&pageNumber=1. If you require a paper copy, please let me know.
The FOIA does not oblige the Council to comply with requests that exceed the statutory cost limit.
The Council has determined that part of your request in respect of information that relates to emails in respect of the development of land concerning Project Forward is exempt from disclosure under Regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR. This is because the Council has determined that part of your request is manifestly unreasonable on the grounds of costs and based on the diversion of resources.
The Council has determined that due to the significant volume of information contained in emails and correspondence this would result in disproportionate burden in handling your request despite the Council previously extending the time limit for the response by an additional 20 working days.
Please note that the Council has determined the impact of dealing with your request in terms of the volume of the information held and the demands on the Council’s resources in terms of determining where the information is held, locating the information, retrieving the information and extracting the information rather than any adverse impact of the disclosure at this stage
The Council taken the following circumstances into account in reaching its decision
- the general principle of openness and transparency
- the value of the information being made publically available given that the project is at very early stages
- the resources available in dealing with your request
- the extent to which the Council would be diverted from its core functions and delivery of services and projects.
- protecting the Council from disproportionate burden and the strain on resources in dealing with elements of your request which will impact on the Council’s ability to deliver other services as well as answer other requests for information.
- Some of the information that falls within the scope of your request does not refer to or is categorized as “Project Forward” in electronic form and manual records; a manual extract of some of the information will be required.
- The Council has estimated that it would take two minutes of one officer’s time to check each electronic file for those records that do not refer to Project Forward specifically, and has estimated that it would take the Council in excess of 40 hours to check the information which places a significant and unreasonable financial and resource burden on more than one department. It would take the Council 60 seconds to check each electronic record where Project Forward is specifically mentioned, however given the volume of emails, this would still place a significant burden on the Council.
The Council has considered the public interest test based on the fact that the EIR requires a presumption in favour of disclosure, and has determined that based on the aforementioned factors and taking into account all the circumstances, the Council has determined that the public interest lies in maintaining the exception.
The Council would be able to provide copies of reports, minutes, names of officers, copies of some of the financial information held that are not commercially sensitive or exempt for any other reason, if this satisfies your request please let me know.
If you are able to modify or narrow the scope of your request, it may be possible to provide the information you require without exceeding the statutory limit. If you require any advice or assistance in doing this, please contact me on the number above. If you are modifying or narrowing the scope of your request this will be treated as a new request and dealt with in accordance with the time limits specified in the FOIA and EIR
Please note if you are not satisfied with this response you may ask for an internal review. If you wish an internal review to be undertaken you should contact the Democratic Services Legal Team, whose address is, PO Box 532, Town Hall, Manchester, M60 2LA, email:
in the first instance. A copy of the Council’s access to information complaints procedure can be downloaded from http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/download/6095/access_to_information_complaints_and_appeal_procedure. If you require a paper copy, please let me know.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review process, 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
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
Yours sincerely
Yasmin Siddiq