Why did the First-tier Tribunal (information rights) take over 2 years to decide on a permission to appeal request?

Why did the First-tier Tribunal (information rights) take over 2 years to decide on a permission to appeal request?

Why did the First-tier Tribunal (information rights) take over 2 years to decide on a permission to appeal request?

                                     

Liverpool Civil & Family Court, Vernon Street, Liverpool, L2 2BX (the venue for First-Tier Tribunal case EA/2016/0033)
Liverpool Civil & Family Court, Vernon Street, Liverpool, L2 2BX (the venue for First-Tier Tribunal case EA/2016/0054)

This recent judicial decision has a bit of a backstory to it by way of explanation.
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Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie Fire Station site if planning application APP/17/00306 is approved?

Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie Fire Station site if planning application APP/17/00306 is approved?

Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie Fire Station site if planning application APP/17/00306 is approved?

                                            

Dan Stephens (Chief Fire Officer) (left) answers questions at a public consultation meeting in Saughall Massie to discuss proposals for a new fire station
Dan Stephens (Chief Fire Officer, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service) (left) answers questions at a public consultation meeting in Saughall Massie in 2015 to discuss proposals for a new fire station

In a 20 page planning report on a revised planning application for a fire station in Saughall Massie, councillors on the Planning Committee have been recommended to approve the application.

The report fails to mention that Wirral Council owns the land, and following a First-tier Tribunal case between myself and the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority, it was revealed that Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority had set aside £300,000* to pay Wirral Council for the land as part of the project. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority also predict they will receive £200,000* from the sale of West Kirby Fire Station and £350,000* from the sale of Upton Fire Station.

*estimates of sale prices for Upton Fire Station, West Kirby Fire Station and the land at Saughall Massie owned by Wirral Council were made by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority based on prices in October 2014 (Upton Fire Station and West Kirby Fire Station), see Appendix H to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority report CFO/101/14) and January 2015 (Upton Fire Station, West Kirby Fire Station and land at Saughall Massie, see Appendix F to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority report CFO/003/15).

A previous application for a fire station was refused by Wirral Council’s Planning Committee on a 7:6 vote last year. An appeal of this planning application refusal to the Planning Inspectorate was considered but abandoned.

Wirral Council’s Planning Committee meets next week on Thursday 22nd June 2017, starting at 6.00 pm to consider the revised planning application in Committee Room 1 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe. It is expected that a site visit will be requested at this meeting which if agreed will delay a final decision on the planning application to a later meeting of the Planning Committee (expected to be on the 20th July 2017).

As the planning report states, the petition of objection to the planning application has grown to 4,034 signatures and there have been 324 objections to the new application at the time the report was written.

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Will a planning appeal over the Saughall Massie fire station fail due to incorrect legal advice to councillors?

Will a planning appeal over the Saughall Massie fire station fail due to incorrect legal advice to councillors?

                                                         

Originally this bundle was going to be published in a different way, but instead it will be published as an exclusive in serial form on this blog.

I’d better start by declaring an interest as the Appellant in First-tier Tribunal case EA/2016/0054, which is about an Environmental Information Regulations 2004 request for the estimates of capital costs involving a new fire station first at Greasby, then at Saughall Massie and the sale of fire stations at Upton and West Kirby.

Despite the bundle being 480 pages in total, there are hundreds of pages missing from it (such as the transcripts of the public meetings involved, communications between the 2nd Respondent (MFRA) and the 1st Respondent (ICO) etc).

Continue reading “Will a planning appeal over the Saughall Massie fire station fail due to incorrect legal advice to councillors?”

Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie Fire Station site if planning application APP/16/00985 is approved?

Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie fire station site if planning application APP⁄16⁄00985 is approved?

Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie Fire Station site if planning application APP/16/00985 is approved?

                                            

Dan Stephens (Chief Fire Officer) (left) answers questions at a public consultation meeting in Saughall Massie to discuss proposals for a new fire station
Dan Stephens (Chief Fire Officer) (left) answers questions at a public consultation meeting in Saughall Massie to discuss proposals for a new fire station

In a 21 page planning report on a planning application for a fire station in Saughall Massie, councillors on the Planning Committee have been recommended to approve the application.

The report fails to mention that Wirral Council owns the land, and following a First-tier Tribunal case between myself and the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority, it was revealed that Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority had set aside £300,000* to pay Wirral Council for the land as part of the project. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority also predict they will receive £200,000* from the sale of West Kirby fire station and £350,000* from the sale of Upton fire station.

Updated 16/11/2016 *estimates of sale prices for Upton Fire Station, West Kirby Fire Station and the land at Saughall Massie owned by Wirral Council were made by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority based on prices in October 2014 (Upton Fire Station and West Kirby Fire Station), see Appendix H to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority report CFO/101/14) and January 2015 (Upton Fire Station, West Kirby Fire Station and land at Saughall Massie, see Appendix F to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority report CFO/003/15).

When Wirral Council’s Planning Committee meets next week on Thursday 10th November 2016, starting at 6.00pm in Committee Room 1 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe it is expected that a site visit will be requested which will delay a final decision to a later meeting of the Planning Committee.

At the last Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority meeting, Chief Fire Officer Dan Stephens (pictured in the photo above) indicated that he wished to speak at the meeting when the planning application is decided to explain what he sees as the very special circumstances as to why the planning application for a fire station in the greenbelt should be approved.

As the planning report details, there are three petitions of opposition to the planning application (totalling 2,561 signatures), 600 online objections and 524 letters of objection to the proposal.

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Hearing date of 21st September 2016 set for Tribunal over FOI request to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority

Hearing date of 21st September 2016 set for Tribunal over FOI request to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority

                       

Liverpool Civil & Family Court, Vernon Street, Liverpool, L2 2BX (the venue for the upcoming First-Tier Tribunal case EA/2016/0033)
Liverpool Civil & Family Court, Vernon Street, Liverpool, L2 2BX (the venue for the upcoming First-Tier Tribunal case EA/2016/0054)

First a declaration of interest, as I am the Appellant in the First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) case EA/2016/0054. The two respondents are the Information Commissioner’s Office and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.

A date and time has been set for the hearing. It will take place on the 21st September 2016 starting at 10am.

The location for the hearing is Tribunals, 3rd Floor, Civil & Family Court, 35 Vernon Street, Liverpool, L2 2BX. A room number (one of the five tribunal rooms) will be allocated on the day.

As a hearing date is now set, the case is sub judice. Therefore comments are turned off for legal reasons.

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