Disclosure Log - March 2022

1. How many wind turbines larger than 0.5MW have been installed since 2007 (inclusive of the year 2007)? 

2. For each turbine larger than 0.5MW installed since 2007 (inclusive of the year 2007), please can we request the following information: 

Permitting

• Environmental Statement, Figures and Appendices

• Any Supplementary Environmental Information (SEI)/Addendum submissions, Figures and Appendices

• Noise studies for the candidate WTG type 

Planning

•Complete planning application, including written application, Design and Access statement, and all plans

• Planning permission including conditions

• Documents and plans submitted to discharge conditions

• Approval/notice of conditions being discharged

• Were there any other consents required – highways etc?

• Has there been any notice of possible enforcement action? 

Lease and Options

• Copies of all signed Agreements and side agreements/letter

With regards to North Devon District Council  we are investigating the transparency provided, or not, by banking institutions to public sector bodies and attempting to benchmark costs and the impact of the imminent cost increases that are about to be applied to accepting card payments. To that end, we’d be grateful if your finance team could answer the following: 

1. Has your bank or card processing supplier made you aware of the details of the Visa and Mastercard price increases planned for this year? 

2. Have you been able to quantify the cost of these increases? 

3. Have you been given any help from your provider to quantify the cost increases? 

4. Have you been told of any ways to mitigate these increased costs? 

5. Is your organisation compliant with the card payment security standard PCI DSS 3.2.1? 

6. Have you been able to benchmark the charges that you pay against the charges paid by similar public bodies for: 

a) banking?

b) processing incoming card payments?

c) achieving and maintaining PCI DSS compliance e g call masking and automated payment phone lines

d) income management systems

7. Which providers currently supply these services:

a) banking?

b) processing incoming card payments?

c) achieving and maintaining PCI DSS compliance

d) income management systems 

8. What was your spend in the last financial year for: 

a) banking?

b) processing incoming card payments?

c) achieving and maintaining PCI DSS compliance?

d) income management systems? 

9. In respect of your last financial year, please can you provide an estimate of the: 

a) value of receipts received via card payments

b) number of receipts received via card payments

c) total charges for processing the above card payments 

10. Have your current providers advised you of the financial and other opportunities created by Open Banking transactions? 

11. Are you using Open Banking data services to drive down costs? 

12. When are your current contracts due to expire for: 

a) card processing?

b) banking?

c) payment compliance services e g call masking & automated phone payment lines?

d) income management systems?

13. Please can you attach a copy of a recent statement/invoice for: 

a) processing your card payments.

b) banking services

c) payment compliance services

d) income management systems

1. No, not aware of anything else other than inflationary increases

2. N/A

3. N/A

4. N/A

5. No

6. a) No, not recently

    b) No, not recently

    c) Not actioned call masking yet

    d) Yes, as part of current control and purchased through framework

7. a) NatWest

    b) Worldpay

    c) Worldpay (pending approval)

     d) Civica UK

8. a) £22,134

     b) £104,066

     c) Spend is £0, just officer time to try and achieve approval

     d) £30,195

9. a) £10,572,722.08

    b) 74,662

     c) £104,066

10. No

11. No

12. a) and b) yearly rolling contracts

     c) N/A

     d) September 2022

13. a) Applicant provided with redacted statement

     b) Applicant provided with redacted statement

    c) As a) above

    d) Applicant provided with redacted invoice

1. How much has the Council received in planning application fees in total for each of the last five calendar years (2017 – 2021)

2. Of that amount, can you tell me what was spent as part of the council’s planning department budget?

1. Please see totals below. The Council’s Accountancy team confirms that they are unable to provide the figures per calendar year as requested. The finance system used only works by financial year and so this is what they are able to provide:

               Planning Fees  Pre App Fees

2017/18        -753,967       -55,550

2018/19        -822,002       -53,980

2019/20        -788,492       -57,076

2020/21        -797,663       -70,694

2021/22

(Apr-Jan)      -789,169       -65,782

 2.  All spent as part of the Planning unit’s budget as the costs are higher than the income received

3. This information is not recorded either by the Planning unit or the Council’s Human Resources department

In Excel:

1.Total number of fly tipping incidents in 2020/2021 and 2022 to date per area under your authority, if possible (per waste type, specifically involving electrical and electronic items)

2. Total cost of removal for fly-tipping incidents in 2020/2021 and 2022 (to date, if possible)

1. Information provided to the applicant in Excel format, which is available upon request

2. 2020/21 = £9,495

    2021/22 (to 31.12.21) = £8,085

    (approximate cost of removal is          £15 per case/report)

1. Please state how much housing benefit has been paid by the council directly to landlords to provide “exempt accommodation” for those in receipt of the benefits. Please provide the figures for each of the past three financial years (2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21), as well as any available data for 2021/22

A redacted copy was provided to the applicant, save for specific information that is considered to be personal data and information that is commercially sensitive. A copy of the redacted contract and response in further detail is available upon request

Applicant advised that 357 complaints regarding noise nuisance were received during 2021

For the years 2019, 2020 and 2021:

1. The total amount of plastic waste collected for recycling by your authority, measured in tonnes 

2. The total amount of collected plastic waste that was then processed in the UK 

3. The total amount of collected plastic that was processed outside of the UK 

4. The total amount of exported plastic waste broken down by destination country 

5. Does the Council have a strategy to recycle plastic waste in the UK instead of exporting? 

I would like this data to be presented in an Excel or PDF spreadsheet with a new sheet for each year and a section on each point of information

Information provided in Excel spreadsheet, which is available upon request

All the information on the number of reported dog noise nuisances in your council area which are related to barking/general noise from the last 5 calendar years within an excel document, split by area and date

Information provided to applicant in Excel format, broken down my parish covering the last five years, which is available upon request

1. What is your current Local Plan for new housing? Please provide its name and dates

2. How many new homes are planned under your current Local Plan? Please provide a yearly breakdown (financial year)

3. Does your current Local Plan for new homes include a technical accessibility standard?

4. What are the technical accessibility standard(s) detailed in your current Local Plan for new homes?

5. How many new homes are planned under your current Local Plan to meet a technical accessibility standard? Please provide a yearly breakdown (financial year)

6. Under your current local plan, of the new homes planned to meet a technical accessibility standard, how many are planned to meet the requirements of:

• Wheelchair design standard
• Lifetime Homes Standard
• M4(1) Category 1
• M4(2) Category 2
• M4(3) Category 3(A)
• M4(3) Category 3(B)

1. The joint North Devon and Torridge Local Plan (2011 to 2031) was adopted in October 2018

2. The Plan establishes a requirement for the delivery of a minimum of 17,220 dwellings across northern Devon over the plan period which equates to approximately 861 dwellings per annum over the 20 year period

3. The Local Plan does not require new homes to include a technical accessibility standard, it can only encourage. However, the plan does recognise that a number of elderly person households and those from other sectors of the community are likely to have a need for adaptable or accessible homes over the lifetime of the plan, as part of providing a mix of housing to meet local housing needs, residential development proposals will be encouraged to provide dwellings that are accessible or adaptable where a need for such provision is identified

This is further reflected in Policy ST17: A Balanced Local Housing Market which requires the scale and mix of dwellings, in terms of dwelling numbers, type, size and tenure provided through development proposals should reflect identified local housing needs. Policy also supports proposals within defined development boundaries for specialist housing accommodation but again, policy cannot insist on such provision but will be supported in principle. A future Local Plan review is likely to have more specific policies to deliver new housing that meets technical accessibility standards that meet a local need

4. As set out above, the plan does not require new homes to include a technical accessibility standard, it can only encourage. However, a draft affordable housing supplementary planning document (SPD) which is subject to imminent public consultation, recognises there is a percentage of the local population who have issues with accessibility. The draft SPD encourages that on sites of 50+ affordable dwellings, the Council will seek a minimum of 3% of homes to be constructed to meet these needs. Registered Providers require these dwellings to comply with the requirement M4(3)(2)b of the Building Regulations 2010, Approved Document M: Access to and use of buildings

5. As set out above, the plan does not require new homes to include a technical accessibility standard, it can only encourage. See also the response in Question four

6. As set out above, the plan does not require new homes to include a technical accessibility standard, it can only encourage. See also the response in Question four

Data in regards to Barnstaple’s e-scooter hiring trial on:

• Total number of e-scooter rides since the trial was launched (broken down by month)

• Total number of reported accidents involving e-scooters since the trial was launched (broken down by month)

Data requested from the date of the trial launch until 31.01.20

Information provided in Excel format, which is available upon request

1. What was the total amount that all closed or dormant council tax accounts were in credit by for the following financial years: 

a. April 1 2018 - March 31 2019

b. April 1 2019 - March 31 2020

c. April 1 2020 - March 31 2021

d. March 31 2021 - present (February 25 2022) 

2. What was the single highest amount that a closed or dormant council tax account was in credit by for the following financial years: 

a. April 1 2018 - March 31 2019

b. April 1 2019 - March 31 2020

c. April 1 2020 - March 31 2021

d. March 31 2021 - present (February 25 2022) 

3. What was the total amount of money given out in council tax refunds by the council for the following financial years: 

a. April 1 2018 - March 31 2019

b. April 1 2019 - March 31 2020

c. April 1 2020 - March 31 2021

d. March 31 2021 - present (February 25 2022) 

4. What was the single highest council tax refund given out by the council for the following financial years: 

a. April 1 2018 - March 31 2019

b. April 1 2019 - March 31 2020

c. April 1 2020 - March 31 2021

d. March 31 2021 - present (February 25 2022

Questions 1 and 2

Unfortunately the Council’s Revenues team is unable to provide the information for these questions. The report from their system details all accounts and does not indicate if the account is closed or dormant. To identify closed accounts would be a manual exercise. This would involve a Revenues Officer manually looking up each account on the system to see if it is a closed account and then collating the data to provide the information required. This would have to be done for each separate year that the request covers which means that there would be approximately 12,000 transaction to manually look up

Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for Local Authorities is set at £450 by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours at £25 per hour in determining whether the Council holds the information, locating, retrieving and collating the information

Even if the Revenues team spent a few minutes checking each of the 12,000 transactions that task would take approximately 600 hours completed in order to be able to provide the information. The task would cause serious disruption to the day to day working of the Revenues team and therefore the Council is unable to process this part of your request any further. As set out in the previous paragraph, the Council has the right to refuse to provide the information in accordance with Section 12 of the Act

3. a) £704,371.21

    b) £626,160.36

    c) £936,471.99

    d) £860,346.38

4. a) £11,345.82

    b) £9,231.83

    c) £23,173.65 

    d) £12,689.48

How many Dangerous Wild Animal licences the Council has issued under the ‘Dangerous Wild Animals act 1976’. For each, detail, the number of animals, the species, any escapes, and whether a licence has been revoked with the accompanying reason, within the last three years

CON29 information relating to a property at EX36 3BU

a) Photocopiers/MFDs (Multi-Functional Device) and b) Printers 

1. Please name all of the IT resellers that you have contacts with and buy from

2. What is the length of the contracts, more specifically their end date, with the named IT resellers in question 1?

3. What year and month is the next hardware refresh due?

4. Please name the number of devices deployed

5. Please name the brand of the devices mentioned

6. Details on how these were procured. i e By Framework

i. Procurement method

ii. If Framework, please state which one

7. What is your annual print/copy volume and spend?

8. Who is the person(s) within your organization responsible for these contract(s)? Please provide their title and their contact details

1. Kyocera

2. October 2022

3. October 2022, however, if we can extend the life of our current assets we will do so

4. 24 devices

5. Kyocera

6. RM1045 framework

7. Central costs are: Rental £9951.08 per annum - click charges £3542.85 in 2021 and £4959.21 2020. 1891722 pages have been printed/copied in the last two years. Separate meter readings supplied by our Print Room (from November 2020 to date when current machine was installed) are black and white 414478 and colour 140785.  Costs here are 0.2 pence per black and white click and 2 pence per colour click, with machine lease costs of £750.83 per quarter

8. Procurement Team

    ICT Manager

1. How many domestic properties in your local authority are in council tax bands E, F, G and H? (a breakdown per band would be useful)

2. How many domestic properties in your local authority in council tax bands E, F, G and H have been purchased on the Shared Ownership scheme up until the date 3 February 2022? (a breakdown per band would be useful)

3. How many domestic properties in your local authority in council tax bands E, F, G and H were purchased on the Help To Buy scheme up until the date 3 February 2022? (a breakdown per band would be useful)

1. Band E =   4,871      

    Band F   =   1,925

     Band G   =      618

     Band H   =        46

      Total       =   7,460

2. The Council does not record this information

3. The Council does not record this information

1. The total number of empty commercial buildings in February 2019 

Commercial buildings will include: 

- Offices

- Retail – retail stores, shopping centres, shops

- Industrial – warehouses, factories

- Leisure – hotels, pubs, restaurants, cafes, sports facilities

- Healthcare – medical centres, hospitals, nursing homes 

2. The total number of empty commercial buildings as of 25th February 2022 

Commercial buildings will include: 

- Offices

- Retail – retail stores, shopping centres, shops

- Industrial – warehouses, factories

- Leisure – hotels, pubs, restaurants, cafes, sports facilities

- Healthcare – medical centres, hospitals, nursing homes

Applicant advised that the Council does hold this information but it is not recorded in what a way that the Council can provide as it has been specifically requested

The Council’s Revenues team publishes a quarterly dataset of empty commercial premises within the North Devon billing area, which can be found via the following link and which are downloadable into a reusable format:

Business Rates quarterly datasets

 In particular, the datasets which just publish the details of those empty: 

All NDR Empty Properties as at 30.09.2021

All NDR Empty Properties as at 31.12.2021 

Unfortunately, the Revenues team are unable to provide this information for the specified months and years as per the request as the reporting element that is used to pull various information from the Revenues system is only able to extract information on the day that a report is run and this then provides a snapshot as to how the accounts stand on that day. The Revenues team are unable to choose specific historic/past dates back over the years to run reports on to see which premises which were empty historically. The reporting system that used by Revenues is a ‘live’ system that is continually being updated 

In accordance with Section 22 of the Act, the datasets will be updated and published during April 2022 

All of the listed premises can be filtered by their property description so it will be possible to identify those as per the categories referred to, or those similar

Could you please disclose how many council employees have been suspended over allegations of fraud? How many of those were suspended on full pay?

If you are able to, please provide some detail on the type of fraud committed

Please provide an annual break down from 2017 - 2021

2017 = Zero

2018 = Zero

2019 = One individual was suspended on full pay due to a lack of trust and confidence. The investigation was completed and following this the individual was invited to a hearing, however they resigned from the authority the day before the hearing was due to take place

2020 = Zero

2021 = Zero

CON29 information relating to a property at EX18 7AQ

Applicant advised that no information held

1. How many British Muslim employees have you recruited? Please provide figures for every year since 2010

2. What is the average length of service?

3. How many British Muslims have you employed in communications/media roles since 2010?

1. 2020 to date = Zero

Prior to 2020 = The data is held but is not accessible as it is held on an old HR system that is no longer used.  The data was not transferred across to the new system currently in use as the Council could not be sure it was accurate/up to date and therefore the Council is unable to answer the request prior to 2020

2. Not Applicable as 1 above for 2020 to date is zero

3. Not Applicable as 1 above for 2020 to date is zero

Please provide the details of all the zoo licences granted in the last two years. For each licence, provide the name of the company or individual that holds the licence, the number and species of animals they have licences for, the length of the licence, the number of inspections, the most recent inspection report and the addresses of each zoo

Information provided to applicant where held in PDF format, save for some personal data which was redacted, which is available upon request

Please could you provide me with details of your council tax

reduction scheme (sometimes known as council tax support) for

working-age claimants for 2022/23

If you have made any changes from the scheme you operated in 2021/22,

please identify those changes

If you have already published your 2021/22 council tax

Applicant provided with a draft copy of the scheme for this year which has been approved by members and will be published on the council's website from 1 April 2022

No changes to the local scheme element just prescribed regulation changes

Data on all taxis and private hire vehicles the council has licenced, specifically:

a) Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM/Registration Plate) e g EX54 PDU

b) Vehicle description e g Toyota Prius

c) The dates the vehicle was licenced from and to, e g Start of licence: 01/01/2020 - End of licence: 05/10/2021

d) Name of the council the vehicle was licenced to

This should relate to both those licences that are valid currently and all that have expired and remain within historical records

Applicant provided with the information held in Excel format, which is available upon request

The applicant has undertaken an environmental report on the property: Thatched Warren, Chulmleigh, EX18 7AQ 

The report has picked up an unspecified tank on site circa 1974 

Please can you advise the following: 

1. If you/the Local Authority are considering any further action against the above mentioned sites or any surrounding sites (either informally or formally) under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 

2. If the you/the Local Authority are considering further action under this legislation, please advise the level of priority assigned to this site (category level and number within category) and likely timescale (i e  Approximately how many do you investigate per annum)

The Council's Environmental Protection team provided the following response: 

Applicant provided with a map and spreadsheet (QGIS contaminated land report) regarding the property, which is available upon request 

This department does not hold any other records regarding potentially contaminated land in this area. It is recommend that the applicant also contact the Environment Agency and Devon County Council regarding any information they may hold in relation to the site or the land in the vicinity 

North Devon Council has not yet fully inspected its area to identify sites of contaminated land as required by Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. As such, it is not possible to say whether or not this site will be classified under this legislation. At this time, it is considered unlikely that this site would be the subject of inspection under this legislation to the future

CON29 information relating to a property at EX31 4BY

Applicant advised that no information held

CON29 information relating to a property at EX16 8AR

Applicant provided with the information, where held and also directed to the Council’s website for some of the information

1. Costs incurred by the Council for the use of chauffeur cars for all council staff

This includes the salary of the chauffeur, any car rentals and mileage costs

Costs incurred by the Council for taxi fares expensed by all council employees

Please provide all information for the financial year 2020-2021 and from the start of financial year 2021 - December 2021

2020/21 = £66.14

How many burials and cremations have there been for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022?

                     Cremations                 Burials

                     (excluding NVF)         (excluding ashes)

2017                  1,599                          67

2018                   1,620                         49

2019                   1,530                         56

2020                   1,608                         38

2021                    1,509                         39

2022 to 31.02.22     258                         two

CON29 information relating to a property at EX32 8DG

Applicant advised that no information held

1. How many licenses are currently issued to exhibit animals under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) 2018 Regulations in your council?

2. A list of the species of animal that are included in the licenses, and how many of each species

1. Three licences

2. Premises One - Six sheep dogs

                              15 ducks

                              One sheep

                              One Pig

   Premises Two - 27 Quails

                             30 Degus

                             Nine Rabbits

                            15 Pigeons

                            Four Chinchillas

                            24 Guinea Pigs

                            15 Gerbils

                           16 Budgies

                           16 Cockatiels

                            Two Quaker Parrots

                           13 Ferrets

                           13 Guinea Fowl

                           15 Chickens

                           Four Goats

                           Three Cows

                           Three Geese

                           Two Pigs

                           Three Ducks

                           Two Turkeys

      Premises 3 - Three Harris Hawks

CON29 information relating to a property at EX34 8AZ

Applicant advised that no information held

1. Name(s) of CFO/S.151 officer (or other title who oversees the finance function) and their telephone number and email address

2. Name(s) of Deputy CFO/Director of Finance/ Deputy S.151 officer (or other title who reports into the above) and their telephone number and email address

1. Jon Triggs, Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive, 01271 388221, jon.triggs@northdevon.gov.uk

2. Tony Rumble, Accountancy Manager, 01271 388220, tony.rumble@northdevon.gov.uk

1. How many parking fines have been issued in 2021, and the first quarter of 2022?

2. How much is the total value of parking fines which have been issued in 2021, and in the first quarter of 2022?

3. How many car parking machines are there under your authority?

4. How many of those car parking machines do not accept cash?

1. In accordance with Section 21 of the Act, applicant referred to the following dataset that publishes this information by financial year on an annual basis: Summary of parking enforcement from 2011/12 to 2020/21 which will be due for updating with the 2021/22 data in August 2022, in accordance with Section 22 of the Act

2. In accordance with Section 21 of the Act, applicant referred to the following dataset that publishes this information on an annual basis: Revenue received by the Council in parking charges and fines - 2009/10 - 2020/21 which will be due for updating with the 2021/22 data in August 2022, in accordance with Section 22 of the Act

3. In accordance with Section 21 of the Act, applicant referred to the following dataset NDC car park information that publishes this information (see column K)

4. All of the machines within the Council’s remit accept cash payment

This request relates to MIPIM 2022, a 4-day real estate exhibition, conference and networking event gathering held in Cannes, France, from 15th-18th March 2022. I would like to request the following information: 

1) Please provide a list of council representatives (including councillors) who attended MIPIM 2022. Please provide their full name and position at the council 

2) For each council representative’s trip to attend MIPIM 2022, please provide the following: 

- The date and duration of the trip 

- The reasons why the council representative attended MIPIM 2022 

- The cost of the MIPIM 2022 trip (please provide a breakdown of costs, including travel costs, accommodation costs and expenses) 

- Please state whether the council met the costs of the MIPIM 2022 trip, or whether an individual, group, company, consortium, charity or another organisation met the costs. Please provide the full name of the individual, group, company, charity or organisation that met the costs 

3) For each council representative that attended MIPIM 2022, please indicate whether they attended (a) meetings held by companies (b) private events held by companies (c) breakfasts/lunches/dinners held by companies. For each meeting/private event/breakfast/lunch/dinner, please name the company involved and provide a description as to what was discussed

No representatives from North Devon District Council attended the MIPIM exhibition 2022

Textile Recycling Policy 

1. Please supply a list of your recycling sites which are currently in operation 

2. Does the council have an approved textile contractor/partner? If so what is the name(s)? 

3. What are the inception and expiry dates of contract between the council and its textile recycling contractor/partner? 

4. What is the fee charged by the council under the tender contract between itself and its textile recycling partner? 

5. Which recycling companies bid for the last tender? 

6. Please supply a list of the final destination of recovered waste material that is collected under the contract? 

7. What was the weight of duvets and pillows which so far has been collected by the contractor/partner under the contract? 

8. Where are duvets and pillows exported after they have been recovered?

Applicant advised that the Council does not hold this information and directed to Devon County Council as they are the responsible authority for this contract

Information regarding transitional certificates for the attached properties within the Council’s area

Please can I ask that where there has been no Transitional Certificate issued it is clearly stated with ‘No TC’

Applicant provided with this information in Excel format, which is available upon request

Tarka Ridge - Private Water Supplies

Applicant provided with the requested information in Excel format, which is available upon request

This is an information request relating to the MIPIM conference 

Please include a breakdown of any costs incurred as a result of attending the conference. This should include but not be limited to: 

• The number of representatives sent

• Costs of travel including the mode and the class of travel

• Any hotels booked including the names and addresses and cost

• Any expenses submitted for food and drink

• Any other expenses submitted by attendees

Applicant advised that no representatives from North Devon District Council attended the 2022 MIPIM conference