28.6.16. Standard FOI request via the WhatDoTheyKnow site for details of "Overage" agreements in last 12 years
26.7.16 Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to NJH
Dear Mr. Harding
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 2016-0788
I am responding to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which we received on 28 June 2016, for information held by the Council.
You requested:
Please provide me with details of and the current status for all cases in the last 12 years where the Council has sold land to a private developer and included an Overage agreement under which the Council would share in any profit made by the developer.
I can confirm that we hold the information you requested. However we are withholding the information because the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate limit” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. Section 12 of FOIA makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit is set at £450; this represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2.5 working days or 18 hours in locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
RBKC have many overage agreements to make sure that the Council and residents are not missing out on any development profits etc. Sites with overage agreements range from large developments to single domestic garage sales. We estimate that it will exceed the appropriate limit to search for all information in relation to these sales.
If you are able to narrow your request or provide more information on the purpose of your request then we may be able provide you with more information.
In accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.
Complaints
I trust this has satisfied your request. Should you be unhappy with the handling of your request, the Council has an internal complaints process for handling FOIA complaints. Complaints are reviewed by the Chief Solicitor and Monitoring Officer or her nominee. A form is available from our website to lodge your complaint
[1]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra... [27.7.22 no longer works]
Please contact us if you do not have website access and we can provide you with a copy of the form. Following this review, should you still be unhappy with how your information request has been handled, you have a further right to appeal to the Information Commissioner who is responsible for ensuring compliance with FOIA.
Yours sincerely
Robin Yu
Information Protection Assistant, Shared ICT Service
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
Tel: 020 7938 8226
30.7.16 NH to RBKC sent through WDTK 30.7.16
To: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Overage agreements for property developments in last 12 years
Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 2016-0788
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's handling of my FOI request 'Overage agreements for property developments in last 12 years'.
I refer to the above FoI request and your refusal to provide information on overage agreements on the grounds of cost.
I am convinced it is in the public interest for disclosure to be made and that such a reason for refusal is not justified where public money is involved when land owned by the public is sold. It is in the interests of Councillors and the public that such information is available – as it is with other (though not all) inner London Boroughs who have responded to similar requests.
Please therefore treat this letter as an appeal to be dealt with as a complaint through the Council’s Internal Review procedure.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...
Yours faithfully,
Nick Harding