Disclosure Log - May 2021

Exemptions/

Exceptions:

Issues regarding assessment of the noise from the wind turbines at Batsworthy Cross:

1. Does the Council know unequivocally exactly what wind speeds and wind directions the operator used in their noise assessments; and if so how does it know; and which ones are they i e direct measurements from the on-site permanent mast or measurements derived from the onsite permanent mast or other?

2. The operator's approach to establishing the wind criteria from two anemometers deviates from the norm but after scrutiny by officers was confirmed as "suitable." How and why is this abnormal approach suitable i e what is the rational and evidenced explanation that finds this abnormal approach suitable; and what did the 'scrutiny' process consider and reveal?

3. The Council was only supplied with one set of wind data for their noise assessments when they should have been supplied with two sets ie. the raw data from the two 10 metre high anemometers. NDC officers claim the one set of data supplied "was sufficient to enable a robust analysis of the noise monitoring data to be undertaken". How do officers know the data provided by the operator is sufficient? How did the operator derive the single set of wind speeds and directions that they gave to NDC?

4. Hoare Lea Acoustics' last report for All Angels for 3m/s wind speeds found no tonal penalty whereas their previous report found a 3.6dB tonal penalty. Does the Council know unequivocally which, if either, of these two tonal penalties is correct (clearly they can't both be correct); and if so what is the rational and evidenced explanation for their position?

5. What is the Council’s rational and evidenced justification for not enforcing noise assessments for 10 metre height 2m/s wind speeds as required by the planning conditions? The turbines can operate when there is a 2m/s wind speed at 10 metre height

6. Does the Council know unequivocally the turbine operating schedule currently running at Batsworthy Cross; and if so what is it?

1.The Council has been informed that the wind speed measurements were made directly at the 10 m anemometers on the permanent mast, which is located at the position referred to in the planning application

The source of the wind direction measurements is not specified but understood to be the arithmetic average of the wind directions measured at the turbine nacelles

The Council has no reason to further question the sources of the wind speed or direction information or to question the validity of this information

2.The Council has no reason to further question the approach, validity of the data or to suspect that any information was omitted or incorrectly interpreted

3. Please refer response provided to question 

4.This question has been fully addressed, repeatedly, previously

5. The Method Statement does not require the noise assessment to be carried out at 2 m/s ‘Monitoring compliance’ (Condition 37) does not imply that data has to be measured and/or analysed at all the wind speeds referred to in Condition 35

Although turbines might operate at a wind speed of 2 m/s not all turbines may be operating at this wind speed because of differences in wind speed across the site, and it is therefore unlikely that representative measurements could be reliably obtained at this wind speed

6. Yes. Applicant provided with the information in a table, as provided by the Operator 13 January 2021, which is available upon request

Environmental search enquiry regarding land identified at Seven Brethren, Sticklepath, Barnstaple EX31 2AS:

1. Pre-license landfill sites within 500m of the subject site, including:

• license holder

• location of landfill/grid reference

• nature of fill material

• dates of operation

• details of any leachate/landfill gas problems

2. Pollution incidents/known areas of contaminated land within 500m of the subject site, including:

• location/grid reference

• previous uses

• nature/source of pollution

• any further details

3. Part B APC authorisations within 500m of the subject site, including:

• authorisation holder

• location/grid reference

• nature of authorisation

4. Private water supplies within 500m of the subject site, including:

• location/grid reference

• details of source and abstraction purpose

5. Storage of Petroleum Hydrocarbons

6. Records of any previous Site Investigations on or in close proximity to the site

7. Records of any unexploded ordnance in the site area

8. Any known problems with ground gas in the site area

9. Any potential issues regarding naturally elevated contaminant concentrations

10. Any other information held by your authority which may have an impact upon the contaminative status of the site

1 and 2. Applicant provided with a QGIS contaminated land map and Excel spreadsheet, which is available upon request

3. There is one premises with an LAPPC permit which is Tesco Extra, Barnstaple Retail Park, Barnstaple, EX31 2AS. They hold a PVR ll permit for their Petrol Filling Station. The team does not hold a grid reference for this premises

4. None

5. to 10. The Council’s Environmental Protection team does not hold any other records regarding potentially contaminated land in this area. They recommend that the applicant 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, if they have not already done so

1. ICT/IM and T/IS Strategy. The IT department strategy or plans, highlights their current and future objectives

2. ICT Org Chart. A visual document that presents the structure of the IT department, please include name and job titles. If this cannot be sent, please work towards a structure with job titles

3. ICT Annual or Business Plan. Like the ICT strategy but is more annually focused

4. ICT Capital Programme/budget. A document that shows financials budget on current and future projects

1. No current strategy is held, still awaiting initiation of Change Programme

2. Applicant provided with this information in Word document format, which is available upon request. The Business Information Systems Manager is Nina Lake, nina.lake@northdevon.gov.uk, 01271 388232

3.2020/21 Short-Medium Term Roadmap plans to deliver:

-         Move towards one Council site

-         Cyber Security Project

-         Census

4. The breakdown of the 2022/23 budget was provided in table format, within the body of the response e-mail. This is available upon request

1. The number of households who received refuse waste collections in 2018, 2019 and 2020

2. The cost of refuse collection operations for financial years 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21

3. The percentage of bins missed during refuse collection rounds in 2018, 2019 and 2020

1. 2018 = 45,070

    2019 = 45,630

    2020 = 46,140

2. 2018/19 = £1,542,891

    2019/20 = £1,525,668

   2020/21 = £1,568,706 (Provisional as accounts are not closed at time of response, 21 May 2021)

3. 2018 = 0.53%

    2019 = 0.31%

    2020 = 0.21%

1. Highest Rent Level being paid for Specialist Supported Housing (excluding sheltered and extra care accommodation)

2. Lowest Rent Level being paid for Specialist Supported housing (excluding sheltered and extra care accommodation)

3. What is the maximum level of rent that would be considered for Specialist Supported housing (excluding sheltered and extra care accommodation)

1. £316.22

2. £127.52

Information provided to applicant, where held, in table format, which is available upon request

Homelessness

1. The number of households who were initially assessed for eligibility for homelessness support each month in January, February and March 2021 (regardless of the outcome of that assessment)

2. The number of households in question 1 who were assessed as owed the prevention duty, each month in January, February and March 2021

3. The number of households in question 1 who were assessed as owed the relief duty as the outcome of their initial assessment (i e not at the end of their prevention duty), each month in January, February and March 2021

4. The number of households who were assessed as owed the main housing duty between January and March 2021 inclusive (this will include households whose initial assessment was prior to January 2021; question 4 is not limited to those households covered in the question 1 response)

5. The number of households who were owed the relief duty, between January and March 2021 inclusive, at the end of their prevention duty (this will include households whose initial assessment was prior to January 2021; accordingly, question 5 is not limited to those households covered in the question 1 response)

Council housing rent

Questions 6-14 apply to council housing tenants *including tenants of ALMOs*. If the council does not have council housing or an ALMO, please proceed to question 15

In these questions, the council may use four weeks, 30 days etc, instead of ‘one month’, and double those figures for ‘two months’, depending on how it records the information

6. How many council housing tenant households are there overall?

7. How many council housing tenant households are currently in arrears on their rent by at least one month?

8. How many council housing tenant households are currently in arrears on their rent by at least two months?

9. How many council housing tenant households currently receive Housing Benefit (not Universal Credit)?

10. How many council housing tenant households currently receiving Housing Benefit are currently in arrears on their rent by at least one month?

11. How many council housing tenant households currently receiving Housing Benefit are currently in arrears on their rent by at least two months?

12. How many council housing tenant households currently receive the housing costs element of Universal Credit? If the housing costs element can't be identified, please give figures for those in receipt of Universal Credit regardless of the specific elements (please specify if this is the case)

13. Of the households referred to in response to question 12, how many are currently in arrears on their rent by at least one month?

14. Of the households referred to in response to question 12, how many are currently in arrears on their rent by at least two months?

DHP applications

15. For each month since January 2021 (inclusive), please state how much was awarded in Discretionary Housing Payments that month (monetary value)

16. For each month since January 2021 (inclusive), please state how much was awarded in DHPs that month based on the impact on the claimant of the benefit cap (monetary value)

17. For each month since January 2021 (inclusive), please state how many new awards of DHPs were made that month (numerical value, not monetary value)

18. For each month since January 2021 (inclusive), please state how many new awards of DHPs were made that month where the award was based on the impact on the claimant of the benefit cap (numerical value, not monetary value)

NRPF

19. Please state how many applications for homelessness support since 1st April 2020 have been rejected due to the applicant being ineligible for public funds under No Recourse to Public Funds rules – this is an overall figure, not a monthly one

If the information for any question – particularly question 19 – cannot be sourced within the section 12 cost limit, please mark that question ‘information not held’ and respond to the rest of the request

Information provided to applicant in Excel spreadsheet, which is available upon request

Questions 6-14 the Council are unable to answer as the authority no longer has a housing stock of its own; it was transferred to North Devon homes Ltd in 2000

Littering:

Please could you provide the requested data per year for the last 5 years (2015- 2020)

1. What is the fine cost of a littering Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN)?
2. How many FPNs did you issue for littering?
3. How many FPNs for littering were paid for each year over the last 5 years?
4. How many council complaints have you had for littering?
5. How many employees do you have that litter pick and how has this number changed over the last 5 years?
6. How many journalist inquiries regarding litter picking have you received over the last 5 years?
7. How many staff members were furloughed during 2020 and 2021?

Fly-tipping:

Please could you provide the requested data per year for the last 5 years (2015- 2020)

1. What is the fine cost for a Fly-tipping FPN?
2. How many fly-tipping FPN have you issued for each year over the last 5 years?
3. How much money was collected from FPNs for Fly-tipping each year for the last 5 years?
4. How many reports/complaints on fly-tipping did you receive for the above time frame?
5. What is the cost to the council to rectify fly-tipping offences?

Littering:

1,2 and 3. This information is published within the Council Environmental Fixed Penalty notice datasets:  https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/open-data/?ID=B51726BB-93ED-47AD-80F1-3E4AB3A25D63&DS=4005 which provides the data from 1 January 2010 - 31 December 2020 and is updated on a yearly basis.  In accordance with Section 22 of the Act, the 2021 data will be published in early 2022, once it has been gathered

4. Since 1 April 2017 (the data is no longer prior to this due to a change in software), the Council has received a total of 175 reports of overflowing litter bins

5. 12 employees, this has not changed in five years

6. The Council's Communications team received nine media enquiries which were specifically related to litter picking during the requested period

7. As follows:

March 2020 = 0

April 2020 = 40

May 2020 = 42

June 2020 = 42

July 2020 = 23

August 2020 = 5

September 2020 = 0

October 2020 = 0

November 2020 = 0

December 2020 = 0

January 2021 = 0

February 2021 = 0

March 2021 = 0

Fly tipping:

1, 2 and 3. As 1, 2 and 3 above for littering

4. and 5. Please refer to the following dataset which publishes this information from 2011 to 2020: https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/open-data/?ID=6D869870-EF56-455D-8985-3B36CA7B9D34&DS=4005  

The dataset provides the number of reported incidents to the Council and associated estimated costs for their removal

Information request relating to commercial property owned by the local authority for 2020-21:

• What is the value of each commercial property held?
• What was the forecast yield for each commercial property held?
• What was the actual yield for the commercial property held?

Please itemise each property separately for their current (or most recent) valuation, forecast and actual yield

Information provided to the applicant in PDF format, which is available upon request

1.The number of infringements of Section 106 Planning Agreements the Council has identified 

2.The number of occasions the Council has taken legal action to enforce the section 106

Applicant advised that the Council does not record the requested information, therefore it is unable to answer the request as the information is not held

1. The total number of households with dependent children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants in such accommodation 

2. The total number of households with dependent children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants in such accommodation for more than 6 weeks but less than 13 weeks 

3. The total number in such accommodation with dependent children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants for more than 13 weeks but less than 26 weeks 

4. The total number in such accommodation with dependent children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants for more than 26 weeks but less than 52 weeks 

5. The total number in such accommodation with dependent children and / or pregnant woman with no other dependants for more than 52 weeks 

6. The total number of children in such accommodation 

7. The total number of children in such accommodation for more than 6 weeks but less than 13 weeks 

8. The total number of children in such accommodation for more than 13 weeks but less than 26 weeks 

9. The total number of children in such accommodation for more than 26 weeks but less than 52 weeks 

10. The total number of children in such accommodation for more than 52 weeks 

For applicant households accommodated by your authority in bed and breakfast hotels (e g privately managed, meal(s) provided, shared facilities) or other nightly paid, privately managed accommodation with shared facilities, at the end of 31st March 2020: 

11. The total number of households with dependent children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants in such accommodation 

12. The total number of households with dependent children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants in such accommodation for more than 6 weeks but less than 13 weeks 

13. The total number in such accommodation with dependent children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants for more than 13 weeks but less than 26 weeks 

14. The total number in such accommodation with dependent children and / or pregnant woman with no other dependants for more than 26 weeks but less than 52 weeks 

15. The total number in such accommodation with dependent children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants for more than 52 weeks 

16. The total number of children in such accommodation 

17. The total number of children in such accommodation for more than 6 weeks but less than 13 weeks 

18. The total number of children in such accommodation for more than 13 weeks but less than 26 weeks 

19. The total number of children in such accommodation for more than 26 weeks but less than 52 weeks 

20. The total number of children in such accommodation for more than 52 weeks

1. Zero

2. Zero

3. Zero

4. Zero

5. Zero

6. Zero

7. Zero

8. Zero

9. Zero

10. Zero

11. Three

12. Zero

13. Zero

14. Zero

15. Zero

16. Two

17. Zero

18. Zero

19. Zero

20. Zero

1. Does the council have an approved textile recycling partner(s)?

2. If the answer to (1) above if YES then please confirm what is the name of the party? 

3.  If the answer to (1) above if YES then please confirm by what process did the arrangement between council and it's approved contractor take place? 

4. If the answer to (3) above is a tendering process then please confirm when the arrangement commenced? 

5. if the answer to (4) above is a tendering process then please confirm the revenue (price per ton) which the council receives from this arrangement 

6. What are the final destinations of the material which is collected under this arrangement? 

7. If this material is shipped abroad then please confirm whether material is sorted/sifted/graded in each event of shipment?

Year   Cremations (excluding NVF)

2015   1537

2016   1573

2017   1599

2018   1620

2019   1530

2020   1608

Year   Burials (excluding ashes)

2015   70

2016   50

2017   67

2018   49

2019   56

1. What was your Disabled Facilities Grant budget for the period from 1st April 2019 to 31 March 2020?

2. What proportion of the budget mentioned above was spent on DFGs during the period from 1st April 2019 to 31 March 2020?

3. How many applications for DFGs did you receive in the period from 1st April 2019 to 31 March 2020?

4. How many applications for DFGs did you receive from people living with motor neurone disease in the period from 1st April 2019 to 31 March 2020?

5. What proportion of DFG applications received during the period from 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020 received a decision within the nationally recommended target timescale of 6 months?

6. What proportion of approved DFG applications received during the period from 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020 received funding within the nationally recommended target timescale of 1 year?

7. Do you currently have a fast -track application process in place to provide DFG funding more rapidly to applicants with urgent needs? If yes, what are the eligibility criteria to access this process?

8. How many applications were made under the fast track process (if applicable) during the period from 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020, and how many of these were approved?

9. Are there any circumstances in which the DFG mandatory means test is waived and if so what are those circumstances? (e g for adaptations under a certain cost or of a certain type)

10. How many applications for DFGs did you receive in the period from 1st April 2020 to 31 March 2021?

11. What proportion of DFG applications completed during the period from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021 received a decision within the nationally recommended target timescale of 6 months?

12. What proportion of approved DFG applications completed during the period from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021 received funding within the nationally recommended target timescale of 1 year?

13. Do you currently provide a single point of contact for applicants to approach for information and guidance during the process of applying for and receiving DFG funding?

14. Do you currently have an accessible housing register for your local authority area that is publicly available?

1. £1,531,402
2. 85%
3. 191
4. This data is not collected
5. 100%
6. 100%
7. Yes, if an applicant is in receipt of a benefit which under the legislation requires no further means test to be carried out

Means test is not carried out for internal or external stair lift cases

8. 66
9. Means test is not carried out for internal or external stair lift cases
10. 292
11. 100%
12. 100%
13. email available to both individuals and professionals

Telephone enquiries will be directed from customer service centre to DFG team and/or direct contact details are provided to individuals and professionals

No

1. How many computer users there are at within the Council in total, where the old computer and other technology and electronic items are going when they are replaced by newer items and what percentage is going to help those in the local UK community that cannot afford computers?

2. Applicant’s previous FOI and researched showed that many public organisations sell their old tech to scrap companies and the markets for old tech scrap are generally abroad for scrap contractors used by council and other large organisations including schools with one scrap company alone stating that they export over 50,000 computer items per month. Therefore, may we please ask for:

- the information/data on your plans to comply with the UK climate change act and deal with scope three emissions from transport during the export of containers overseas?

- any data held regarding emissions and particular scope three emissions relating to old technology from your organisation

3. What the Council currently has in terms of outdated, unplugged, or unused no longer needed laptops, computers, or other electronics in storage that the applicant can collect for their long-standing local-focused UK solution that helps homeless youth in need, care leavers, pensioners who cannot afford a computer, refugees and others disadvantaged people and if not would it be possible to put a date in the diary for the next collection please?

4. If the Council has recently changed its policy to

allow local reuse and access to local organisations to its old still

usable tech, may we please ask: how can we also be added to this list of organisations that the equipment to 'offered to before disposal' and receive equal treatment as those organisations?

5. if the Council has a listing of organisations on its website that can collect old still usable items for the UK community we would appreciate equal treatment and kindly request to be added to that list

1. The council currently has approximately 420 computers.  WEEE collections are securely collected by Stone Computers Ltd. The council does not record any details about how many devices go to the UK community

2. The Council is in the process of recruiting a joint Climate Change Officer with Torridge District Council, therefore at the time of its response (11 May 2021) it does not hold any specific documented plans to deal with the UK Climate Change Act and with scope 3 emissions from transport during the export of containers overseas. The Council does not record any information/data regarding scope 3 emissions relating to old technology from the Council

Applicant advised that the Council uses Stone Computers Ltd to remove and wipe all redundant ICT equipment. It does receive payment for some devices (and are charged for others). In the past the Council has had to pay to dispose of the equipment. Stone ensure that only the minimum goes to landfill, the rest is either sold at a reduced rate to UK schools, sent to schools in Africa or recycled

WEEE collections are securely collected by Stone Computers Ltd and either erased using Blancco data erasure software in order for the item to be recycled and then either donated to www.itschoolsafrica.org which is a charity that helps setup classrooms with IT equipment giving children the chance to use technology that they would otherwise not be able to access; Or used for the Microsoft get on line initiative www.getonlineathome.org which has been in place since 2012

Recycled IT equipment such as laptops, PCs, tablets and smartphones are securely erased, re-programmed with latest software and supplied to vulnerable families, children with disabilities or low-income households from the grants provided by the government

Stone also re-sell via their e-commerce website www.stonerefurb.co.uk which is a public-facing where IT equipment can be purchased at a fraction of the cost

Education (including schools, colleges, universities throughout the whole of the UK) have access to www.stonerefurb.co.uk and receive further discounts by applying a designated discount code

3. The Council does not currently have any devices awaiting disposal

4. The Council has not changed its policy

5. The Council does not have any such listing

CON29 information relating to a property at EX34 7FE

Applicant advised that no information is held

1. How many public toilets do you currently maintain?

2. Please list for 2020 how many council-maintained public toilets were changed from female or male toilets to gender-neutral toilets?

3. Please list this for 2019, and 2018

4. How many council-maintained public toilets were closed in 2020?

5. Please list this for 2019 and 2018

1. 15
2. 0
3. 0 for both years
4. 0
5. 0 for both years

CON29 information relating to a property at EX31 4HR

1.If the local authority has a planning criterion designed to create a hot food takeaway “exclusion zone” around schools, contained in an adopted or interim policy or guidance document (such as a Local Plan, Supplementary Planning Document, or Development Management Plan), please can you send us a copy of this document. For example, you might have an adopted supplementary planning document that contains a criterion describing how “proposals for new hot food takeaways located within 400 metres of schools will not be accepted”

2.If the adopted policy or guidance document superseded a previous version that also contained an exclusion zone planning criteria, please also send us the first edition of this document

3.If the Council no longer has an adopted policy or guidance document that contains an exclusion zone planning criteria, but these criteria were contained in a superseded document that is now out-of-date, please send us a copy of this out-of-date document

4.If you have never had an adopted policy or guidance document that contained an exclusion zone planning criteria, please also let us know

CON29 information relating to a property at EX32 0RQ

CON29 information relating to a property at EX34 7HJ

In Excel:

(a) List all non-domestic properties and their addresses

(b) The names of the Rate payers referred to above for each

property (excluding all the personal information)

(c) The rateable value for each property

(d) The date the rate payer became liable for the bill

(e) Details of what reliefs, if any, the rate payer receives (Mandatory, Discretionary, Exempt, retail, small business)

Applicant referred to the Council’s Business Rates datasets where this information is published on a quarterly basis:

https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/open-data/?ID=7ED2F924-B000-4771-B16B-181DB316F4E1&DS=4005

The next update will be due in July 2021

CON29 information relating to a property at EX31 4ST

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

1. Does the Council have a Policy/Procedure for dealing with Council Tax Individual Voluntary Arrangement proposals where the Council is listed as creditor and owed money? If so please can I have a copy?

2. How many Council Tax IVA proposals did the Council receive in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021

3. How many of the proposals in 2) did the Council vote on?

4. How many were 'accepted' and how many 'rejected' and how many 'accepted with modifications?

5. For the proposals in 2) how much was the Council owed in total?

1. No the Council does not

In response to 2 through 5, the applicant was advised that the Revenues team does not record this information in a way that it can be easily provided. The only way in which it could be gathered would require the Revenues team to go through each Council Tax account (as at 8 April, the Council had 47,397 accounts) that would each need to be checked. It has been estimated the team would require approximately 3 minutes to check each account, therefore this exercise would far exceed the Section 12 cost limit of 18 hours as it would take approximately 2,369 hours to complete

1. How many section 21 eviction notices were issued by the council in each of the following financial years – if possible within the cost limit please also indicate the number of tenants affected (in each property) in total by these section 21 notices in each year:

a.    2018-19

b.    2019-20

c.     2020-21

2. How many section eight eviction notices were issued by your council in each of the following financial years – if possible within the cost limit please also indicate the number of tenants affected (in each property) in total by these section 8 notices in each year:

a.    2018-19

b.    2019-20

c.     2020-21

3. When the moratorium on evictions ends on 31 May 2021, how many outstanding notices for eviction does the council have under:

a.    Section 21

b.    Section eight

If possible within the cost limit, please also indicate the number of tenants affected in total by these notices – please provide a figure for section 21 and section eight separately

The Council’s Housing team confirms that the Council does not issues Section 21 and 8 notices as it no longer has a housing stock of its own; this was transferred onto North Devon Homes Ltd, 21 February 2000, so for the purposes of this request, the Council does not hold this information

How much Chittlehampton receives for its precept and a break down on spending (for the last 5 years, but if not the last two years)

Also, a break down on what has been spent specifically on the play area so far

Applicant provided with the Chittlehampton Parish precepts for the last five years as follows:

2017/18 = £10,551.50

2018/19 = £11,269.99

2019/20 = £11,828.50

2020/21 = £12,985.00

2021/22 = £12,810.00

Applicant advised that details of spending by the Parish Council are not held by the authority and  directed to Chittlehampton Parish Council for information about how the precept is spent and also for any spend specific to the play park; chittlehamptonclerk@gmail.com

Number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued by the council for the following offences in the last year (2020):

- Parked in a designated disabled person’s parking place without displaying a valid disabled person’s badge in the prescribed manner (both on and off-street, PCN codes 40 and 87)

The Council Parking Office confirms 01/01/2020 to 31/12/2021 there were 64 PCN's issued for contravention 87

North Devon Council do not issue for contravention 40 as this is an on-street enforcement code, therefore this information would need to be requested from Devon County Council: accesstoinformation-mailbox@devon.gov.uk

CON29 information relating to a property at EX32 0NH

Applicant advised that no information is held

CON29 information relating to a property at EX35 6PQ

Applicant advised that no information is held

What number of properties/households in the Lynton and Lynmouth Parish, that is to say the area covered by Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council, pay Council Tax?

Council Tax records show as at 12 May 2021, the number of properties in the council tax list for the parish of Lynton is 858. This does include those applicable properties within Lynmouth and any other that fall within that parish boundary

It is noted that the applicant is asking for properties that cover the areas of Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council, however the Council Tax team do not know what area the Town Council covers, and so they are only able to extract the data by Parish, which has been provided above

1. Who currently carries out Council PAT testing?

2. How many units do they test on the Council's behalf?

3. What is the value of the PAT testing contract?

4. When does the contract come up for renewal?

1. SA computer and PAT testing services

2. 3,172

3. £2,868.30 every four years and £300 every year in between

1. Does your organisation have lone workers (HSE definition, someone who works by themselves or without close supervision)?

2. How many lone workers does your organisation have?

3. Does your organisation have in place any form of lone working provision, i e dedicated device system, smartphone applications, mixture of both?

4. How many Systems are in place e g Applications, Dedicated Devices?

5. Do you have an existing contract in place for the above?

6. When was this awarded and for what duration?

7. Who was the contract awarded to?

8. Is there the potential for extending this contract? Will you be applying that extension?

9. What was the contract value in total?

10. Was the contract tendered through direct competitive tender, a framework, or through G-Cloud provision?

11. Which department is responsible for the health, safety and well-being of lone workers e g Health and Safety, Department by Department etc

1. Yes
2. 200
3. Yes, dedicated device system
4. 134
5. Yes
6. This information is published on the Council’s Contract Register via the following link: https://procontract.due-north.com/ContractsRegister/ViewContractDetails?contractId=752e76da-f5ef-e911-80fa-005056b64545&p=696a9836-1895-e511-8105-000c29c9ba21
7. As 6 above
8. As 6. above
9. As 6. above
10. As 6. above
11. Human Resources

In Excel:

1. Figures for each individual financial year from 2010/11 to 2020/21 on the number of Public Health Funerals (aka paupers’ funerals) carried out by the local authority under the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984 or as many years of data as you have available?

2. For each individual financial year from 2010/11 to 2020/21 the average of cost of providing a Public Health Funeral (aka paupers’ funeral) carried out by the local authority under the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984 or as many years of data as you have available?

Applicant provided with link to Council Public Health Funeral dataset which is updated on a monthly basis:

https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/open-data/?ID=6D869870-EF56-455D-8985-3B36CA7B9D34&DS=4005

CON29 information relating to a property at EX18 7DD

Applicant advised that no information is held

A copy of the information that the council was required to submit under The Non-Domestic Rating (Compilation and Alteration of Lists) (England) Regulations 2020 by 15 January 2021

The Council considers this to be exempt under Section 40 of the Act as the information contains personal data of ratepayers (names, telephone numbers, email addresses, some billing addresses) who would have no reasonable expectation for the Council to make publicly available. A disclosure under the Act would not be just to the applicant of this request, but would also be considered a disclosure to the world at large 

Placing this information into the public domain would ultimately lead to it falling into the hands of individuals that may not have legitimate or lawful purpose in its use. The purpose for the Council to hold the contact information of ratepayers is so that the Revenues team has the ability to be able to contact them concerning their accounts whilst they are responsible for the payment of business rates

The Council publishes the following page on its website where it sets out the instances where personal data that it holds in relation to NDR billing can be legitimately shared:

https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/council/data-protection-and-freedom-of-information/privacy-and-data-protection/what-we-hold-how-we-collect-and-how-we-use-personal-data/council-tax/

Within this page, the Council confirms that it has a lawful requirement to share information that it holds with the Valuation Office Agency. Having reviewed the page, The Council is satisfied that there is no lawful basis for the Council to be required to disclose the requested information under the Act

It is noted that not all of the information contained within the information is considered to be personal, however The Council confirms that it already makes NDR information it holds publicly available via Business Rates datasets, which are published on a quarterly basis (April, July, October, January each financial year) and these do contain some of the information sought:

https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/open-data/?ID=7ED2F924-B000-4771-B16B-181DB316F4E1&DS=4005

BA Reference

Ratepayer Name (Sole Traders, individuals are redacted prior to publication)

Property address and postcode that the billing relates to

Rateable Value

Property Description

Ratepayer Billing Address and postcode (some are redacted if they are not already publicly available or are different to the property address)

Whether the premises is occupied or vacant

SBR Relief

Exempt

Mandatory Rate Relief

Mandatory Rate Relief percentage

Discretionary Rate Relief

Discretionary Rate Relief percentage

Additional Relief

SSBR

Liability Start Date

UPRN

In accordance with Section 21(1) of the Act, the Council is not obliged to provide information that is already in the public domain. However, it does have a duty under Section 16(1) to provide all applicants advice and assistance in order to assist with locating the information, which the Council has done so in providing the link above to the Business Rates datasets. In accordance with Section 22, the next update will be completed in July 2021

Information regarding the collection of party political subscriptions from councillors allowances in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021:

1. Does the council collect, from councillors’ allowances, funds which are then passed to a political party?

2. Please give the reason why the council is collecting, from councillors allowances, funds for a political party

3. Please advise the annual amount collected and paid to each individually named political party

4. Has National Insurance and Tax been deducted before the funds are collected?

5. What is the cost to the council for making these deductions and arranging bank transfers or cheque payments?
6. What bank charges are incurred in transferring the funds or cheque payments?

1. Yes

2. Funds for a political party

3. Liberal Democrat Party:

2019/20 = £5,453.15

2020/21 = £7,649.14

4. Yes the deduction is taken after Tax and National Insurance are deducted

5. Circa £80 per year in officer time

6. Circa £1-2 in bank costs per year

• the date(s) of any empty periods
• the period(s) of any exemptions

from the date stated for:

Riverside House, Adams Plant, Riverside Road, Barnstaple, EX31 1QN from 31.01.2020

4 Cross Street, Barnstaple, EX31 1BA from 02.03.2020

Riverside House – Adams Plant: The property has been empty since the 1 April 2020; an empty property exemption has been awarded for the period 01.04.20 – 30.09.20

4 Cross Street: The property has been empty since the 30 April 2020; an empty property exemption has been awarded for the period 30.04.20 – 29.07.20

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

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

Year   Cremations (excluding NVF)

2015   1537

2016   1573

2017   1599

2018   1620

2019   1530

2020   1608

Year   Burials (excluding ashes)

2015   70

2016   50

2017   67

2018   49

2019   56

2020   38

1. What is your spend with external law firms?

2. Do you use eBilling technology to manage your law firms billing (e g systems such as Legal Tracker, Brightflag, Apperio, CT Tymetrix, Mitratech etc)?

3. Who is your head of legal/general counsel?

4. Do you have a law firm panel/preferred supplier list/use a framework to buy your external law firm services?

1. Please refer to our dataset that publishes this information via the following link: https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/open-data/?ID=0437E375-8836-45E5-BAB8-A11E6739B321&DS=4005, which is due for updating in July 2021

2. No

3. Trevor Blatchford, Senior Solicitor and Monitoring Officer, Legal Services, North Devon Council

4. No

1. How many chartered ecologists the council has employed over the last three years between May 2018 to May 2021?

2. How many “other environmental experts” the council employs, who are either unchartered but hold a position as an environmentalist or hold chartered status in a related discipline e g someone who holds Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) status. Would you please also provide this figure in terms of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) equivalent

1. The Council has not employed anyone with Chartered Ecological Status (CEcol) in-house since before May 2018

2.Within the Council’s Planning service, the Council employs two unchartered environmental experts (Sustainability Officer and Arboricultural Officer).  Both are now full time, although our Sustainability Officer was 0.8 FTE from pre 2018 until the Summer of 2020.

Our Sustainability Officer is a member of Institute of Environmental Manager and Assessment (IEMA)

Our Arboricultural Officer does not hold any formal membership of a professional environmental body, although I am advised that they would be eligible for The Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv)

1. How many Disabled people do you have living in your accommodation in properties that are on the first floor or above (i e non-ground floor properties), across your council area?

2. How many residents do you have with personal emergency evacuation plans in council accommodation?

1. Zero (Temporary Accommodation)
2. Zero (Temporary Accommodation)

The Council no longer has a housing stock of its own. This was transferred to North Devon Homes Ltd in 2000 and therefore the authority no longer holds this information

The number of burials and cremations that have occurred each year from 2015 until the present day. I would like the information to be given for each individual year as opposed to a single total number

Year   Cremations (excluding NVF)       

2015   1,537 

2016   1,573 

2017   1,599 

2018   1,620 

2019   1,530 

2020   1,608 

2021      565  (to 30.04.21)

Burials (excluding ashes)

2015   70

2016   50

2017   67

2018   49

2019   56

2020   38

Applicant advised that no information is held

Year   Cremations (excluding NVF)

2015   1537

2016   1573

2017   1599

2018   1620

2019   1530

2020   1608

Year   Burials (excluding ashes)

2015   70

2016   50

2017   67

2018   49

2019   56

2020   38

The total number of burials and cremations, annually, broken down by burials and cremations from January 2015 to December 2020 (or the last full month of data), in the North Devon District Council jurisdiction

Year   Cremations (excluding NVF)

2015   1537

2016   1573

2017   1599

2018   1620

2019   1530

2020   1608

Year   Burials (excluding ashes)

2015   70

2016   50

2017   67

2018   49

2019   56

2020   38

1. Overall, as of 27 April 2021, how many applications to the Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme have been:

If possible, please could the above be split by main and discretionary scheme? I understand that this is not always possible due to how applications are processed

2.Since the scheme was extended to include parents or guardians of isolating children (announced in February, but introduced in March), how many applications in total (not just those from parents and carers) have you:

Again, if possible, please could the above be split by main and discretionary scheme?

3. When the scheme was extended to cover parents and carers of self-isolating children, new funding was also announced for the discretionary scheme. Except for it now being open to parents and carers, did the new funding lead to any other widening of the eligibility criteria for the discretionary scheme?

4. At any point during the running of the scheme, did you run out of discretionary funding (even if this was later topped up)?

5. If possible, please could you provide a breakdown of accepted and rejected applications by: gender, ethnicity, employment status, and disability?

1. As follows:

Received = 329 (127 Main, 202 Discretionary)

Processed = 329 (127 Main, 202 Discretionary)

Accepted =186 (91 Main, 95 Discretionary)

Rejected = 143 (36 Main,107 Discretionary)

2. As follows:

Received = 11 (Three Main, Eight Discretionary)

Processed = 11 (Three Main, Eight Discretionary)

Accepted = Seven (Two Main, Five Discretionary)

Rejected = Four (One Main, Three Discretionary)

3. The maximum income level of our discretionary scheme was increased

4. At the beginning of March we had overspent on the Discretionary scheme by about £3,500, but this has since been covered by top-ups received

5. Gender. The Council has received 190 applications from females and 139 applications from males. However the team does not ask for an applicant’s gender so these figures are based on the title the applicants have volunteered (Mr, Miss, Mrs)

Employment status. All applicants are employed as they are not eligible if there are not in work when they are told to self-isolate

The team does not ask for details of ethnicity or any disabilities on our application and so this data is not recorded

In Excel format, A full list of businesses that have recently taken over a business premises between 15 Feb 2021 to 31 May 2021, including:

Full business name

Full Address and postcode

Property type

Date of liability

Applicant directed to the Council’s Business Rates datasets which are updated on a quarterly basis: http://www.northdevon.gov.uk/council/key-statistics-and-data/open-data/?ID=7ED2F924-B000-4771-B16B-181DB316F4E1&DS=4005

The Revenues team that produces the datasets are unable to provide the information between the specific dates requested

This is because 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 became liable for NDR. The reporting system that used by Revenues is a ‘live’ system that is continually being updated

Applicant advised that he next update will be due, in accordance with Section 22 of the Act, in July 2021