Coodham Estate planning permission information: EIR release

Information requested

1. Notification of Construction Project Forms and the CDM (Construction Design Management) files, containing the preconstruction information, the construction phase plan and the health and safety file and any relevant notifications, that were submitted to the Scottish Ministers, according to section 7 of the Construction Design and Management Regulations 1994, for works carried out at Coodham Estate to the planning permissions detailed below.

2. A copy of the building standards register for the application of building warrants and the completion certificates as required in section 24 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 for the works carried out at Coodham Estate for the planning permissions:

1.  Planning permission 01/01287 granted in 2002
2.  Planning permission 02/00790/FUL granted on 2 March 2004
3.  Planning permission 04/1015/FUL granted on 15 April 2005

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. 

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Scottish Government does not hold any information in respect to building works carried out at Coodham Estate. Due to the exception under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs, the Scottish Government is not required to provide information that it does not hold. This exception is subject to the 'public interest test', however, as none of the information requested is held by Scottish Government it is not possible to consider disclosure in the public interest.

Separate from the official EIR response, please find information below that may assist:

In Scotland, the thirty two local authorities are appointed by Scottish Ministers as verifiers to administer the building standards system for their own geographic area and are responsible for the interpretation of building standards legislation.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM Regulations) are completely separate from both planning and building standards legislation. Individuals involved in a construction project are required to know their duties under health and safety legislation before commencing a project. The health, safety and welfare of construction workers and people with access to construction sites is covered by legislation enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The CDM Regulations set out that work should be carefully planned and carried out by people who have suitable skills, knowledge and experience. An approved building warrant does not confer any approvals under health and safety law. 

Notification of a construction project is not provided to Scottish Ministers. However, certain construction projects are notifiable to the HSE through the submission of an F10 form. You may wish to contact HSE to establish if it holds information relating to Coodham Estate. Further information on construction design and management requirements is available from HSE at Contact the Health and Safety Executive (hse.gov.uk).Documentation relating to a building warrant or completion certificate for works at Coodham Estate would have been held by South Ayrshire Council in their role as building standards verifier.

The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2005. From that date, the local authority is responsible for maintaining a building standards register, as set out in Regulation 57 of the Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
The register holds information relating to building warrants and there are two parts to this.

• Part I is publicly available online via the local authority website. It provides a list of applications, details of any certificates from approved certifiers and decisions.
• Part II is accessible from the local authority. It holds copy building warrants, copy completion certificates, copies of any certificates from approved certifiers, principal drawings and specifications, and all other documents submitted to the local authority for registration in the building standards register.

The building standards register must be kept open for public inspection at all reasonable times. The procedure regulations expand on this requirement by specifying that the basic information and decisions on Part I must be accessible by the internet. The drawings, specifications, certificates and other information used to determine the application, such as soil tests, form Part II of the register and must be available for inspection during normal office hours.

Copying of drawings and detailed information in Part II of the register is, however, subject to certain restrictions. For residential buildings (including individual dwellings), copying is limited to anyone with an interest in the building, such as the current (or prospective) owner, occupier or tenant, known as an ‘interested party’. Copying is also extended to an ‘interested party’ of an adjoining building. For other types of building where there is a security concern copying should only be permitted with the written permission of the owner.

Where copying of documents under the terms of the regulations is permitted, copies of documents should be made available on request but at a charge that recovers the local authority’s costs. The copy drawings must be clearly stamped indicating that copyright restrictions must be observed.

The local authority may remove documents from Part II of the register if it believes that there are security concerns over the disclosure or copying of such documents. A decision to remove documents from the register would normally be preceded by discussions with the applicant after a security concern had been raised.

Local authorities are responsible for ensuring the information held, how it is held and how it is accessed, is in line with the legislation and guidance. Information on building warrants and completion certificates prior to 1 May 2005, may be held in the local authority’s document archives. You may wish to contact the building standards team at South Ayrshire Council directly to discuss your requirements for access to information relating to building warrants and completion certificates for works carried out at Coodham Estate.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.