Potential purchase of land at Meadow Lane - Find a freedom of information request

How much has LCC spent on proposal and potential purchase of land at Meadow Lane for the South Hykeham Community Primary School.

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. Lincolnshire County Council

have determined that the information you are seeking disclosure of is “environmental” information as it relates to information on "the state of the elements of the environment, such as air and atmosphere, water, soil, land, landscape and natural sites including wetlands, coastal and marine areas, biological diversity and its components, including genetically modified organisms, and the interaction among these elements" and "factors, such as substances, energy, noise, radiation or waste, including radioactive waste, emissions, discharges and other releases into the environment, affecting or likely to affect the elements of the environment…" under Regulation 2(1)(a) and (b) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and "measures (including administrative measures), such as policies, legislation, plans, programmes, environmental agreements, and activities affecting or likely to affect the elements and factors referred to in 2(1)(a) and(b), as well as measures or activities designed to protect those elements" under Regulation 2(1)(c). The information requested is therefore exempt from disclosure under section 39 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) as it relates to environmental information. Requests for environmental information must be considered for disclosure under the terms of the EIR, rather than the FOIA and we have therefore considered your request under the EIR.

Due to the nature of Lincolnshire County Council’s (LCC’s) property contract, some staff time can be identified as a cost relating to billable hours through the Council’s contractor. LCC officer time cannot be quantified in this way. The figure provided therefore relates to items which can be identified, as follows:

• Preparation and submission of planning application.

• Pre-application planning advice.

• Ground surveys.

• Liaison with landowner and Legal Services and resulting design amendments.

• Heritage Assessment Statement.

• Flood Risk Assessment.

£34,037

The Planning team have advised that there is nothing else that could have been done to achieve a positive outcome in respect of the application, they were engaged throughout but withdrew their support due to the level of objection raised.