really ??
who omes up with this crap
Sorry but were was the bs or am I missing something?
sorry here it is
“The £5m junction, inspired by a similar crossing in Tokyo, opened in the West End shopping area on 2 November 2009”
also been in most Australian and US cities for over 20 years seen as standard and the big one in Sydney cost something like £50,000
“The crossing contributed to a 7% rise in annual sales, the council said”
and how the hell did it do that ? where did they get that figure from ? so sales went up 7% because people can now cross in a diagonal ? what a load of crap to justify spending 5 million on a crossing
7% of what? Sales by the newspaper vendor on the corner of Regent’s Street? Sales in the whole of Westminster? The universe? It is a meaningless statement. As is the 90 million figure. That is more than 170 people per minute every hour of every day round the clock for 365 days. Seems unlikely.
Can’t remember which satirical comedy programme it was on, but each week they’d have a piece called “Talking ********”. The common theme were politics or the arts.
I have a feeling the skit writers now work for City of Westminster.
Who’s up for a Freedom of Information request to the Chief Exec. of WCC for the statistics and facts that support this piffle?
Good idea OG. We suggest someone who is retired with plenty of spare time and a feisty attitude towards authority takes on the job 
O.K.
Someone send me a pre formatted letter with the right (legally correct) wording and I’ll do it.
As for having “plenty of time”, do you want sight of my work list on this crumbling Victorian pile I call home?
(Others use a different word or two.)
What you want is here -
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/new/westminster_city_council
If you don’t want your request to be public you can go here -
http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/foi/FOIRequest.asp
It is also worth letting Nutsville know what you find out.
Giuliano Ta.
(If I were a betting man, I’d have laid money on you sending me the link.)
+1 on that
Consider it a public service.
Well I just got around to using the link and did the thing you are supposed to do. Check if the question(s) has already been asked.
A guy called Kwame Opoku beat me to it (on November 8th) using Westminster’s own, even more outrageous, press release.
Don’t know how to send a direct link but if you use the link Giuliano( provided (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/new/westminster_city_council) and check to see if the question has already been asked, you should find it.
You don’t need any legal wording or any particular way of saying it.
This goes for any FOI request. Just simply say you are requesting the information under the freedom of information act.
The issue you will have is exactly what to ask for and how to ask for it, even seasoned professionals fall foul of wording their letters in a way that doesn’t leave any option but to answer.
The wording has to be precise. You have to ask for something exactly or they can refuse to answer on the basis that the question is asking for too much.
Just read Kwame’s FOI request and I would hazard a guess that he has done this before. If you look at it, as a good example of how to request information under the FOI, he is very precise about what he wants.
“How was the number measured and calculated, and what were the numbers of people who used the crossing more than once?”
A great example of a very precise question.
The link for any that struggled to find it.
Cant wait to see what answer Westminster come up with
is it worth copying this request and then several people asking for the same information?
Just a thought
no normaly they will answer that it is being dealt with and give you the link.
ok,
good to know,
thanks
Anyone know how we get to see their response to Kwame Opoku’s questions?
when they answer it will go as a link below his question, they have till the 8th Dec to answer. So we would need to check back occasionally to see if they have answered