FOI disclosure log

Message from Hackney Council

05 August 2019

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Dear  ***** *****

 

Re: Freedom of Information Request.

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, received 14 July 2019. Your request has been considered and our response is in bold below.

 

You requested the following: 

Please can I request the following information; Detailed breakdown of all complaints relating to Be The Air Limited made to Trading Standards, Environmental Health and Planning departments. Contact details for Heads of Departments - Trading Standards, Environmental Health and Planning. Details of any cross Borough coordination or cooperation by Trading Standards, Environmental Health and Planning to tackle the problems being caused by Be The Air Limited. Details of any Action Plan formulated by Hackney Council to curtail the harmful business practices of Be The Air Limited. Contact details for Hackney Council Police Liaison Officer in matters related to Trading Standards, Environmental Health or Planning. Details of any reports made to partner agencies related to complaints made by members of the public about the services provided by Be The Air Limited, Illegal Immigrants working for Be The Air Limited or other criminal activity connected to Be The Air Limited. 

 

The Council’s Response

The planning enforcement team does not have the legal authority to investigate the company which you have named, as they are not legally responsible for any breach of control. When taking planning enforcement action, such action is directed at the legal landowner or those with a legal interest in the land. Such action is not directed at the builder, the developer, or the architect, but the landowner themselves. 

 

The London Borough of Hackney Trading Standards has received complaints from three separate complainants with regard to the company BETHEAIR LTD, these have been over a three month period which would not be sufficient to trigger a further intelligence interrogation and fuller investigation. There has been one intelligence log recorded on the IDB system, which correlates with one complaint the authority is aware off already and provides no further information.The address at Old Street has been visited by officers from the Trading Standards service, the venue is a restaurant on the ground floor with flats above; accessed by a separate door, there is no signage to identify this as the address where the company operates and officers were unable to identify if the company operated at that address after speaking to residents. There was an amount of post inside the premises, but as the premises are residential no powers allow officers to examine this.

 

Finally our Trading Standards enquiries have uncovered that although the website says the company is based in Old Street, Hackney; Companies House has the registered address as Brick Lane,Tower Hamlets and the physical location of the company is in Lewisham. It now appears Tower Hamlets Trading standards have taken the case for investigation.  

 

Appeals & Complaints Procedure

If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal, please respond to this email to request an Internal Review.

If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner.

https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/

Information Commissioner"s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113

Kind regards

Information Management
ICT Services
London Borough of Hackney