FOI Request - Review of 101003420122 Closure of St Giles Centre Car Park

Request 101003456217

Review of 101003420122  Closure of St Giles Centre Car Park

I am writing to request a review of my freedom of information request regarding the St Giles Centre car park: http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_151704.html

Part of my request was to ask for information on the condition of the car park. The condition of the car park, which is a prominent town centre building, is clearly a matter of public interest if the public is still being allowed entry into it, albeit in a limited fashion. I do not see any justification why the council cannot disclose that information.

I concede that any financial estimates of work needing done to the building could be considered commercially sensitive.

I am writing to request that the documents referred to are reviewed to see if they can be disclosed in a redacted form given the public interest in the safety of the building.

Response 18-01-2024

Following your request for a review (our ref: 101003456217) of your Freedom of Information (FOI) Request - Closure of St Giles Centre Car Park 101003420122, a review meeting was held on 10th January 2024. In attendance were the Information Governance Manager and Data Protection Officer, Consultancy Manager, Head of Environmental & Commercial Services, Solicitor, and Information Co-ordinator.

Your FOI Request from 23rd October 2023 was discussed.

We reviewed our response of 20th November, including the application of exemptions under Section 33(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act – that disclosure would (or would be likely to) prejudice substantially the commercial interests of any person or organisation, and under Section 30 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act – Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs. The Panel confirmed that these exemptions still apply. The Public Interest Test was also considered, and, given that no decision has yet been made by the Council, it was felt that the public interest did not outweight the requirement to apply the above exemptions.

Nonetheless, in order to be helpful we can provide further clarity and would like to confirm the following details:
During a routine inspection in 2020 defects were identified at St Giles Car Park. A specialist inspection and structural assessment was undertaken, which found the deck slabs on the upper floors (Levels 3 – 6) do not have sufficient capacity to carry normal vehicle loading for a multi-storey car park. Based on the findings of this assessment Moray Council made the decision to close the decks of the car park that are not at ground floor level, in the interest of public safety.
The car park continues to provide fire escape functionality from the shopping centre and the western stairwell remains open for this purpose, with physical access to the closed decks removed by locking doors and the provision of temporary walls. The condition of the car park is monitored through regular inspection, which will inform any further action required.