Adam Chichester-Clark wrote to South Somerset FOI Team

Adam Chichester-Clark wrote to South Somerset FOI Team:

Dear FOI Team,

In your email of 7 October 2020 (below) you explained that you had asked the Planning department for an update on the “status and timeline” of my FOI Request, which you have categorised as urgent. I have heard nothing from you since then. The statutory period within which I was to receive a reply to my FOI Request dated 17 August 2020 expired on 14 September 2020. 

Although I have said that I would accept the information sought by way of rolling disclosure, I have not receive any of the information/documentation sought or even details of the extent of the search which the FOI intends to carry out in order to obtain it, despite my offer to agree a common approach. 

In circumstances in which no objection has been taken in principle to the provision of any of the categories of information/documentation sought, your team should by now have identified an individual(s), who will responsible for undertaking the search, and that person should in turn have identified the electronic and hard copy storage systems and devices in which they intend to carry out the search for the information sought.

While I am sympathetic to the Planning Department’s high workload, it is incumbent on your team: (i) to identify each systems/devices in which you intend to carry out the search (pcs mobiles, tablets etc..); and (ii) to provide any documentation falling with the categories, even if, as I say it is by way of rolling disclosure.

I respectfully ask you to provide a substantive response by no later than 4 December 2020, failing I will be obliged to make a complaint to the Service Delivery Team in the first instance and/or to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Thank you very much for your help in this matter.

Best

Adam