12 July 2024
Wayne Scott
Sent via email to
[FYI request #27192 email]
Dear Wayne,
Request for official information – PARTIAL RELEASE OF INFORMATION
Thank you for your request for official information dated 9 June 2024. You requested the following
information from Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC / Council):
• Could you please provide a copy of any dining licences in place for the Arrowtown village green
on Buckingham St.
• Could you please provide a copy of all inspection reports undertaken since 2009.
• Could you please provide confirmation that any dining licence is compliant with your policies
and compliant with any legislation including the reserves act.
• Could you please provide a copy of any correspondence with any licence holder and the
council and/or their agents.
• Could you please provide a copy of any permissions granted for private works on the village
green.
QLDC Response
Please see our response below:
•
Could you please provide a copy of any dining licences in place for the Arrowtown village green
on Buckingham St.
Please see the attached link for the copy of the dining licenses
.
Buckingham street
•
Could you please provide a copy of all inspection reports undertaken since 2009.
To address this part of your request our property team have searched the data and have
advised that there are no records of inspection reports for this part of your request.
•
Could you please provide confirmation that any dining licence is compliant with your policies
and compliant with any legislation including the reserves act.
Yes, we can confirm that the issued licenses would have been compliant with the table and
chairs licence and the Reserves Act.
•
Could you please provide a copy of any correspondence with any licence holder and the council
and/or their agents.
No correspondence has been found in relation to the license between the license holder and
QLDC staff.
•
Could you please provide a copy of any permissions granted for private works on the village
green.
We have looked into the above and can confirm that there are no records of private works
permits for Buckingham Green.
Decision to withhold information requested.
We have good grounds under the LGOIMA for withholding/refusing some of the original information
requested. We consider it is necessary to withhold/refuse certain information on the basis of the
following grounds:
• s 7(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of natural persons.
• s 7(2)(b)(ii) – to protect information where the making available of the information would be likely
unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the
subject of the information.
• s17(e) - that the document alleged to contain the information requested does not exist or, despite
reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
Section 7(2)(a) of the LGOIMA provides that there is a good reason for withholding official information
when the withholding of information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons. In this
case, the files shared with you contain some personal contact details of the license holders which we
have considered to be private.
Section 17(e) of the LGOIMA provides that the document alleged to contain the information requested
does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found. In this case, we were unable
to find any correspondence, private work permits, inspection reports as there were no records found
in the archives.
Section 7(2)(b)(ii) of the LGOIMA states to protect information where the making available of the
information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who
supplied or who is the subject of the information. In this case, we have performed minor redactions
to the copies of the license to protect the commercial position of the license holder.
We trust this response satisfactorily answers your request
Public interest considerations
We consider the interests of the public when making decisions to withhold requested information,
including considerations in favour of release, whether the disclosure of the information would
promote those considerations, and whether those considerations outweighed the need to withhold
the information.
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Promoting the accountability and transparency of local authority members and officials is in the public
interest, as is the general public interest in “good government”. Where possible, we have favoured
the release of information.
However, we do not believe there to be any public interest in releasing any commercial details of the
license holder engaging with the council.
We conclude that the important section 7 withholding interest identified (e.g. privacy and commercial
sensitivity), which relates to a subset of the information within the scope of your request, is not
outweighed by a countervailing public interest requiring release.
Right to review the above decision
Note that you have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about this process is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800
802 602.
If you wish to discuss this decision, please contact
[email address] (Governance
& Stakeholder Services Manager).
Kind Regards,
Poonam Sethi
Governance and Official Information Advisor
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