Strawberry Line

21st May 2009 - Free the Strawberry

Council refuses to reveal route of the path from Wells to Cheddar
Tuesday, May 19, 2009, Wells Journal :-

"Plans for the proposed Cheddar to Wells path remain a secret after a Freedom of Information Act request was rejected.
The Wells Journal was seeking to obtain details of the route presented to Somerset County Council on March 3.
The Freedom of Information demand came after series of conventional requests for the information were refused.
But this latest request has also been denied by the council, which claims that, because some of the plans need to be checked and altered, all the proposals are exempt from the act.
Those for and against the path, including landowners worried that the route will cut across their land, and the Strawberry Line Group have all asked for the plans to be released.
Problems with the route are likely to surface in Easton, where earlier plans saw it cut through an industrial estate and an old railway cutting, now incorporated into private back gardens.
The council says some details of the plans may be released on June 1, but failed to say how much detail would be available.
The council's grounds for refusal state: "We are in the process of finalising details of the route and pulling together all the necessary supporting information required to submit a planning application.
"At the moment we are finalising the detailed scheme drawings and investigating the extent of the tree survey required along the route, so that the planners have all the required information to determine an application.
"Detailed drawings will be sent to affected landowners shortly, and will be publicly available as part of the planning application as soon as it is submitted."
The council says that under the Environmental Information Regulations and the Freedom of Information Act, it has the right to withhold information if an exception applies.
The refusal continues: "In this case we believe that an exception does indeed apply, and we have decided not to release detailed plans while we are still in the process of gathering information.
"The planning application will be publicly available as soon as it is submitted."
The county council also said it had no information about a proposed cycle path from Wells to Cranmore.
The Wells Journal disputes the decision to refuse the request, and has sent an appeal to the council's Freedom of Information officer."

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