28 February 2022
Official Information Request No. 8140009791
(Please quote this in any correspondence)
Campbell Larsen
[email address]
Dear Mr Larsen
Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987
Re: Request for billboard sites
I refer to your email of 21 February 2022 to the Chief Executive. I have been asked to respond
on his behalf.
On 10 January 2022 you made the following request for information:
A list of the consented sites across Auckland for:
1. Billboards
2. Electronic Billboards
The list is to also detail if the consent was supported or opposed by (a) the Council
(b) Auckland Transport, and (c) NZTA. The list should also include detail on the site
landowner or owners.
3. Copies of the consents issued for active sites
4. Details of any pending requests for amendments to existing consents
that would enable a static site to be converted to a electronic or changeable
message installation
5. Details and numbers of any transfers of consent(s) to a new operator or
landowner for the 24 month period preceding the 10/01/2022
Your request was being dealt with by Joanne Kearney. It appears that there was a
misunderstanding about how much information could be provided to you and on further
discussion with the business unit by Grace Ray, it became clear that the information was not
in a format that can be easily collated and released to you. The reason for this is it would
require a person to manually open and search every file individually in order to find and collate
the information. This process would be time-consuming and just not possible at this time, when
the council is extremely busy and impacted by the omicron outbreak. It was considered that
the manual exercise would have a detrimental impact on business-as-usual work and
accordingly your request was refused on the basis of substantial collation and research.
You noted that you received an email in response, rather than a formal letter. The LGOIMA
does not require our response to be in any particular format, so long as we provide the grounds
for our decision and advise you that you can seek a review of the decision with the
Ombudsman.
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
We are comfortable with the application of the LGOIMA withholding ground in the
circumstances. If you disagree with our use of the substantial collation and research ground,
the usual course of action is to make a complaint to the Ombudsman to seek an investigation
and review of the decision, as detailed to you previously.
We are aware that you would like more information and in particular we have noted that you
are interested in applicant and agent information, not just landowner as you specified in your
original request of 10 January. As a result, we have created another spreadsheet with this
information listed (attached). In addition, if you would like a copy of any particular consent then
please let us know and we can obtain this for you. Providing you with one or two consents will
not have the significant impact on our workload, that collating all of the consents would have.
If you would like to discuss the above or have any further queries, please contact me on 09
301 0101 quoting Official Information Request No. 8140009791.
Yours sincerely
Fiona Morris
Privacy & Official Information Manager
Governance Services
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
