Information about actions taken since climate emergency declared
Hugh Davenport made this Official Information request to Dunedin City Council
The request was successful.
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear Dunedin City Council,
Since you declared a climate emergency, I would like to know what tangible steps you have taken to improve the climate change problem. I would also like to know what steps you have planned for the immediate future, with timelines and action points required.
For all of these actions made or planned, I would like to see data showing how it improved (or will improve).
If no actions have been made or planned to date, I would like to request the reason why the council declared an emergency then did nothing to follow through with that declaration.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear Dunedin City Council,
I note that this request is now overdue. Can the council please respond ASAP. I see that you did not acknowledge receiving this email so potentially the email in the FYI system is incorrect. If this is the case, I'm happy for this to be treated as a new request as of today. However, if you respond to this email, then clearly the email is correct, and the response should have been given today.
If I do not hear back shortly, I will assume the email is incorrect and reach out via another channel.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
Hugh Davenport left an annotation ()
Hi Karen,
Yeh I had a wee gander at their other ones and appears that they do get the emails. I've reached out the FYI team to confirm the email was sent to them, and then I will raise a complaint with the Ombudsman.
Cheers,
Hugh
Hugh Davenport left an annotation ()
Email to dcc@dcc.govt.nz, Attention Dr Sue Bidrose (CEO)
Hi,
I'm writing to you today in your capacity as the Chief Executive of the Dunedin City Council. I have used the main email dcc@dcc.govt.nz as per the contact information listed on https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council/loca....
On August 21 2019, I made a request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA), which is available to read at https://fyi.org.nz/request/11027-informa.... Under the LGOIMA, the council is required by law to respond as soon as possible and before September 18 2019. This date has passed, and the request is now overdue.
My request made received no correspondence from the council after making the request via the FYI.org.nz system. I should note that the council is required under the LGOIMA to accept requests via all communication methods, including FYI. More information about how the council is required to accept online information requests is available on the Office of the Ombudsman's website, or in this PDF (http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/syste...).
I note that I have raised a similar request with many other councils who have replied promptly, for example:
- Queenstown-Lakes District Council (https://fyi.org.nz/request/11030-informa...)
- Hawkes Bay Regional Council (https://fyi.org.nz/request/11029-informa...)
- Auckland Council (https://fyi.org.nz/request/11014-informa...)
- Hutt City Council (https://fyi.org.nz/request/11011-informa...)
- Christchurch City Council (https://fyi.org.nz/request/11015-informa...)
- Porirua City Council (https://fyi.org.nz/request/11012-informa...)
- Cantebury Regional Council (https://fyi.org.nz/request/11028-informa...)
Your lack of response is both breaching the LGOIMA, and also your personal responsibilities under the Local Government Act. The page at https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council/orga... that the CEO is responsible for "making sure that any policy the Council adopts is correctly carried out." Given that the council is failing at providing the transparency on whether the Council is taking action after making a climate emergency declaration, then you as the CEO are not making sure that the policy defining that climate emergency is being correctly carried out.
Can you please ensure this missing data is provided to be by COB 23rd September 2019. I note that this is after the date the council should have legally responded by. If the council fails to do so, I will make complaint to the Ombudsman about the councils failure to meet the responsibilities under the LGOIMA.
Cheers,
Hugh
Hugh Davenport left an annotation ()
Dear Mr Davenport
Thank you for your email to CEO Sue Bidrose following up on your request for information regarding the Climate Emergency.
I have followed up with our LGOIMA team. They advised that your request was referred to our Corporate Policy Manager to respond to you direct rather than being dealt with as a LGOIMA. I apologise for the fact that this was not communicated to you at that time.
The Policy team expect to have their response to you early next week.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in response.
Regards
Vivienne
Hugh Davenport left an annotation ()
Hi Vivienne,
Thanks for your email.
I'm a bit confused how you can legally circumvent the LGOIMA process when someone requests information from your agency. Can you please state how this is possible?
I'm going to point out the Office of the Ombudsman's advice on the LGOIMA, found on their website at http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/syste.... Looking at page 12 of that PDF, the following makes me believe that this should have been processed under the LGOIMA:
- "A LGOIMA request is made in any casewhen a person asks an agency for access to specified official information"
- "the requester does not need to refer to the LGOIMA"
Can I ask when a response from the Corporate Policy Manager can be expected? I note that it has now been 4 working weeks, and I stand by my original opinion made clear in my prior email to Dr Sue Bidrose regarding the Councils lack of commitment to the policy regarding the Climate Emergency Declaration. I re-iterate my concern that the CEO of this Council is not upholding their personal responsibility for "making sure that any policy the Council adopts is correctly carried out". Given that the Council is likely illegally refusing to deal with my request under the LGOIMA, and the alternative of getting a response from the Corporate Policy Manager has been delayed quite considerably, I am doubtful that the Council has done anything in regards to their new Climate Emergency Policy.
I would appreciate the following:
- A lawful reason why my request was not processed under the LGOIMA. For this, I would require an excerpt from a legal Act in New Zealand (found at http://legislation.govt.nz/) which specifically says that an agency can choose to not use the LGOIMA when a request for information has been received by the agency.
- An explanation on how the CEO is managing their responsibilities for "making sure that any policy the Council adopts is correctly carried out" specifically in regards to the Climate Emergency Policy.
- An estimated time when the Corporate Policy Manager will be making a response to me- An explanation of why the Corporate Policy Manager has delayed my request with no communication with myself.
Cheers,
Hugh
From: Maria Ioannou
Dunedin City Council
Kia ora Mr Davenport,
Thank you for your email and apologies for the delay in responding.
As you note, the Dunedin City Council (DCC) declared a climate emergency
on 25 June 2019. This set a new goal for the city of net carbon
neutrality by 2030. Until this point the goal had been carbon neutrality
by 2050.
Initial work to scope how this might be achieved is being undertaken by
the DCC’s Corporate Policy team, which I manage. A key part of this is
looking at how to embed the 2030 goal in Dunedin’s next 10 year plan
2021-31, which sets direction and budgets across the DCC. This is the
critical opportunity to revisit business as usual and put in place the
steps needed to reduce emissions, both in terms of the DCC’s own carbon
footprint (which we have measured for the past five years) and the
activity the DCC undertakes that affects the footprint of the city. The
work on the next 10 year plan has already begun, and a process is underway
to ensure all staff at the DCC are briefed on the 2030 goal and thinking
about how to adapt their work to contribute to delivering on this goal.
Work was already in train to deliver on the previous 2050 goal. This
included participation in the global Covenant of Mayors, which to date has
included establishing Dunedin’s carbon footprint and setting targets for
different parts of this e.g. reducing transport emissions. The current
stage of work that we are working on for this, that supports the 2030
work, is developing a clear action plan that includes the current planned
activity to reduce emissions – for example, switching our streetlights to
LED (a significant energy saving) – and then looking at the gaps and
identifying what can fill them. To enable this, we are planning to do
rapid reviews of the activity of different teams across the DCC and
supporting staff to do this work in their areas.
The main data that ensures we can, and do, track the impact of our actions
in the climate change mitigation space are the DCC and the city’s carbon
footprints. You can view our DCC carbon footprint summaries for the past
five years [1]here, and the city’s carbon footprint [2]here.
The DCC is also active in engaging with central Government to encourage
and support its work in the climate change space, and has submitted
formally on the majority of the recent related consultations.
It is good to have these questions from you and I know we will have more
to report in time.
Kā mihi,
Maria.
Maria Ioannou
Corporate Policy Manager
Community and Planning
P 03 477 4000 | E [email address]
Dunedin City Council, 50 The Octagon, Dunedin
PO Box 5045, Dunedin 9054
New Zealand
[3]www.dunedin.govt.nz
[4]DCC Main Page
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From: Hugh Davenport <[5][FYI request #11027 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 21 August 2019 10:35 a.m.
To: Official Information <[6][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Information about actions taken
since climate emergency declared
Dear Dunedin City Council,
Since you declared a climate emergency, I would like to know what tangible
steps you have taken to improve the climate change problem. I would also
like to know what steps you have planned for the immediate future, with
timelines and action points required.
For all of these actions made or planned, I would like to see data showing
how it improved (or will improve).
If no actions have been made or planned to date, I would like to request
the reason why the council declared an emergency then did nothing to
follow through with that declaration.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
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From: Hugh Davenport
Dear Maria Ioannou,
Thanks for that.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
Hugh Davenport left an annotation ()
Complaint to the Ombudsman:
https://fyi.org.nz/request/11027-informa...
Hi,
I would like to make a complaint about DCC's handling of this LGOIMA request. This request was overdue with no acknowledgement or anything from the agency. When I reached out the agency, they stated that they had decided to "respond to me direct rather than being dealt with as an LGOIMA".
Now I'm no expert on the LGOIMA, but it appears that the agency doesn't actually have a lawful reason to circumvent the LGOIMA process just because they decided it. I emailed them about this concern and am yet to hear back.
As I've received the information I require, this isn't urgent, but when the Ombudsman has time, I would appreciate this being investigated and the agency instructed on the correct ways to use the LGOIMA.
Cheers,
Hugh
Hugh Davenport left an annotation ()
Email from PA to CEO of DCC:
Dear Mr Davenport
I am writing in response to the question you raised about why your request for information concerning the Council declaring a climate emergency was not being processed under the LGOIMA.
All requests for information received are considered under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, however, not all requests are dealt with directly by the LGOIMA team. When your request was received by the LGOIMA team, they assessed your questions and then forwarded them to the Policy Team, as the most appropriate Council department to provide a response directly to you. Please be assured you that we did not circumvent the LGOIMA process when dealing with your request.
With respect to your concern that your request was not acknowledged, LGOIMA requests through our Official Information email address receive an automated acknowledgement response. If it was received through another means, a letter of acknowledgement should have been sent. We apologise that you did not receive such a response and are looking into why this did not occur.
The Corporate Policy Manager has the climate change work on her work programme and it is also included in the Annual Plan.
I understand that the Corporate Policy Manager has now responded to your request.
Please accept our apologies for the confusion and delay in responding to your request.
Regards
Vivienne
Hugh Davenport left an annotation ()
Email reply:
Thank you for your email. I have received the information I requested, albeit overdue. I note the response most likely could have been given a lot earlier (the LGOIMA says as soon as reasonably practical, and that the 20 working days should not be treated as a target).
I'm just letting you know that I've raised a complaint with the Ombudsman over the handling of this request, as it honestly appeared to me that DCC does not understand all the requirements laid out in the LGOIMA. If it is usual for the LGOIMA team to pass on requests for information to other teams, they should also ensure that the other teams understand the responsibility of the entire agency under the LGOIMA. Your response last week made me think that DCC thought the LGOIMA was an optional process (by your wording "your request was referred to our Corporate Policy Manager to respond to you direct rather than being dealt with as a LGOIMA"). While I'm happy to give you the benefit of the doubt for this, I still think that it is worthwhile the Ombudsman having knowledge of this for them to determine whether this is a one time breach or not.
Cheers,
Hugh
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Karen Anderson left an annotation ()
HI Hugh Davenport,
The other requests to the DCC confirm it does receive notifications from fyi, and can use the platform to respond.
It may be relevant the DCC has ranked in the top 5 Agencies for complaints to the Ombudsman for breaches of the LGOIMA in Jan-June 2019.
In my personal experience ignoring the request until the Ombudsman is involved is the most common form of breach.
Link to this