Freedom of Information Request

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There is a lot of land and buildings adjacent to Cathays High School which could be used for the school rebuild and expansion - for example Companies House has a large multi story car park meaning their large open air car park is rarely used. There's also Maindy Barracks which appears little utilized. So on 02/08/2021 it was decided to send a FOI to Cardiff Council to try to find out if they had looked into these options.

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In the Council reply on 23/08/2021 they basically refused to provide any details. So a follow up email was sent on 14/09/2021. The further Council reply on 27/09/2021 did then provide email correspondence. The email chain is shown below.

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Companies House:

For Companies House, the Council emails failed to confirm any meeting or discussions had taken place between Cardiff Council and the owners of Companies House about availability of any part or parts of the site for the proposed expansion of Cathays High School.

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Further FOIs About  Companies House FOIs End Up Going In A Circle! 

It looked (and still does!) very much like Cardiff Council hadn't actually asked the Companies House landlords, the Government Property Agency, whether they could use any of their land for a school expansion. So a member of the Save Maindy Velodrome campaign (SMV) thought it worth trying an FOI on the Government Property Agency to see if they had any record of  meeting. The GPA come under the Cabinet Office so FOIs have to go through them on GPA matters.

 

On 14/10/2021 SMV had a reply (ref. FOI2021/18796) from the Cabinet Office basically saying they have no record but to try the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). So SMV sent an Freedom of Information request to the BEIS who replied on 25/10/2021 and advised "Your request for information has been passed to Companies House who will provide a response to you directly".  Then on 21/11/2021  SMV had an email from the 'Information Rights' at Companies House (ref. 403-10-21) who advised they have no record and SMV should contact the Cabinet Office FOI as it would be a matter for the Government Property Agency which comes under the Cabinet Office!

 

What's clear from this runaround is that no meeting has ever taken place between Cardiff Council and the owners of Companies House to discuss opportunities with regards the proposed expansion of Cathays High School.

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Maindy Barracks

 An FOI sent to the the MoD (the owners of Maindy Barracks) included a plan given to them by Cardiff Council which showed three plans, Versions 1, 2 & 3. The plans show various proposals to build on Maindy Park and all include the text “Land for Resale” on the site of the existing Cathays High School. The Council did not include these plans in their FOI release. When the Council Chief Executive was queried about the 'Land for Resale" plans he categorically denied Cardiff Council had produced them. When further queried that his statement contradicted the MoD emails he apologized for misleading the Save Maindy Velodrome campaign.