Question:
Back in April I phoned the Council and was reluctantly put through to the finance department as I wished to ask some questions about the accounts extract published in WBC’s Borough News. My key question was how much in total WBC had received in developer contributions (s106 and CIL) in 2016/17 and was expecting for 2017/18. I was told by an officer that he didn’t have the information immediately to hand but that he would get back to me.
A month later, well past the target response time, I received an email stating my questions were “not a valid request as they were asking for an opinion/explanation/justification, not for recorded information held by the Council”. That response is of course complete nonsense to put me off asking embarrassing questions. I pursued the matter with WBC’s legal department.
After various exchanges of emails the officer presumably read the definition of the word “question” in the OED and had a change of heart and my other queries were accepted and answered but not the key question re developer contributions.
Contrary to stated official policy the officer has not subsequently replied to my follow-up email. I thus wish to know who within the Council (officer or / and councillor (s)) issued the edict to block this information from public view.
Minutes:
Back in April I phoned the Council and was reluctantly put through to the finance department as I wished to ask some questions about the accounts extract published in WBC’s Borough News. My key question was how much in total WBC had received in developer contributions (s106 and CIL) in 2016/17 and was expecting for 2017/18. I was told by an Officer that he didn’t have the information immediately to hand but that he would get back to me.
A month later, well past the target response time, I received an email stating my questions were “not a valid request as they were asking for an opinion/explanation/justification, not for recorded information held by the Council”. That response is of course complete nonsense to put me off asking embarrassing questions. I pursued the matter with WBC’s legal department.
After various exchanges of emails the officer presumably read the definition of the word “question” in the OED and had a change of heart and my other queries were accepted and answered but not the key question re developer contributions.
Contrary to stated official policy the officer has not subsequently replied to my follow-up email. I thus wish to know who within the Council (officer or / and councillor (s)) issued the edict to block this information from public view.
Answer
I am sorry that you did not receive the answers to the question in a timely manner.
You have, I am assured, now received a response to your questions, including actual developer contributions receipts for 2016/17 and forecast developer contributions receipts for 2017/18.
To answer your specific question anyway:
· Section 106 – In 2016/17, the Council raised £21m, of which £6m was outstanding as at year end. Therefore, cash received in year was £15m;
· For CIL – In 2016/17, the Council received £4.7m;
· As far as expected contributions are concerned for 2017/18 for Section 106 according to the latest forecast, the Council expects to raise £32m and for CIL, the Council expects to raise £6.2m.
I should emphasise that forecasts are totally dependent on developers bringing forward housing development and if development does not commence, related contributions are not received as planned.
Forecasts are updated quarterly. They are therefore subject to change if developments do not come forward and/or if there are changes to the scope of development projects.
And finally, the CIL/S106 team are happy to provide non-commercially sensitive information on request, and I understand that you now have a contact in the Council’s specialist team dealing with this issue. Furthermore, annual reports containing this information are available on the Council’s website.
Supplementary Question:
Thank you for the answer. I did actually obtain them from a different person in the Council and I did actually get different figures including for last year which should be definitive and audited by now. I can accept that forecasts do vary. This is not the first time that this has happened when I have asked questions about public information. Who in the Council is blocking this information and what steps are being taken to train officers now they are aware of this situation, that they will not block information in the future and they are aware of the Freedom of Information Act? Now we are aware of this situation, are staff going to be trained so that they will answer legitimate questions in the future?
Supplementary Answer:
I cannot provide you with the total reassurance but what I can tell you is that you have been given a very specific named person to answer the questions on Section 106 and CIL monies and areas around that within Finance. We should be able to answer questions. Sometimes it is difficult to know actually who to put the questions through to.