Topic: Advice on an FOI request please

[SMP1704]

I want to find out what policy (if any) our council and contractor have to deal with non-cultivation and termination of tenancy as a result.

Recent events have led me to believe that the council/contractor staff can only be acting in such a contradictory and inconsistent manner because there are no clear guidelines for them to follow.

I want to use this information to help me frame a complaint regarding equity and fairness in how the council/contractor treat all of their allotment tenants.

Are there any specific phrases that I need to use when I make an FOI request for this information?  If you are wondering "why not just ask"? if emails were answered I would.............this at least will require a response ::)

[tonybloke]

have a word with NSALG? ( or ain't you a member?)

[SMP1704]

Tony - I'm not a NSALG member

[Unwashed]

this at least will require a response ::)

Ha ha ha ha ha, oh mercy. :'(

OK, so:  Your council, (and their contractor while providing a service on behalf of the council) must treat every request for information (so notes, paper and electronic documents, post-its, e-mails, note books, etc) as a FoI request, no matter who receives the request, as long as the request is in writing (and e-mail counts as writing.  There is no prescribed way to ask for the information, but as there's a good chance your council hasn't the faintest idea about FoI there's no harm (and it is actually recommended) that you say "This is a Freedom of Information request".

The Council are not allowed to ask you why you want the information.  However, they are expected to make some effort to give you exactly what you want so it is good practice for them to come back to you for clarification.

They must give you the information within 20 working days, and the clock stops while they seek clarification from you.

If they don't give you the information and don't cooperate with you then you can complain to the Information Commissioner.

So, you might send an e-mail:

"Hello, would you please let me have your policy on non-cultivation and termination of tenancy.  Please treat this request as a Freedom of information request."

The council's policy on non-cultivation and termination of tenancy is actually a contractural matter between the council and tenant so it should be in the tenancy agreement.

[SMP1704]

Thanks Simon, just what I was after.

The tenancy agreement gives the basics ie, if you don't cultivate to a satisfactory standard and use at least 85% of the growing for fruit & veg, tenancy will be terminated (I'm paraphrasing here)

I think that the council/contractor are coming unstuck because there are no clear guidelines on what satisfactory cultivation looks like and don't have any contingency for when the non cultivators say it is becuase they have been unwell etc.

I think my request will uncover that they don't have a clear working policy that helps them interpret the tenancy agreement.

Thanks

[Unwashed]

It's an interesting point.

S.30 Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908 says "...if it appears to the council that the tenant of an allotment ... has not duly observed the rules affecting the allotment..." so in any dispute unless the council's decision is totally perverse there's no contesting their judgement, and there's not much to stop the council behaving inconsistently and arbitrarily.

You might argue that a decision to evict one tenant for a level of cultivation no worse that another tenant who was not evicted would be inequitable and that the council are estopped by their previous decision, but then the council would say that it appeared to them that the cultivation of the latter's plot was worse than the former's, and no amount of comparitive photography would help you.

Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1998 has made it much more difficult for the landlord to decide this kind of thing arbitrarily and independent appeals panels and objective standards are becomeing more common, but S.30 might trump that still.

All the same, it's only right and fair that the tenant should know reasonably clearly what standard of cultivation is expected, and it's also only fair that the standard should be appropriate in the context of an allotment garden.  Deciding what that level is can be a whole other can of worms though.

[SMP1704]

Thanks

What I want to challenge is the council's/contractor's complete inability to see through a termination where the plotholder turns out to be able to construct a sentence and wants to hold on to the plot and challenges the decision, often right at the last minute.

We are talking complete and total non cultivation here - not just a few weeds and scruffy borders (we all have those)

They back off every time they are challenged (we call it the Turnham Green syndrome) and I don't think it is good enough and certainly I believe this inconsistency is unfair towards all plot holders who do comply with the scant cultivation rules that exist.

I don't expect this to be easy or quick but I am not prepared to let it go.

[pigeonseed]

Oh dear - sounds like you're frustrated! I think according to what our site secretary has told us, we have a similar problem here. But I don't know first hand. It is easier to back down than fight with some persistent people. But sometimes you've just got to stand up to them.

I hope you manage to get the system working better.