I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information please;

1.
a) How much is spent directly by the Council on the diversion of telecommunication utilities in 2022 and 2023
b) Of this amount, how much was spent with Openreach
c) How much was spent with Virgin Media
d) How much was spent with City Fibre

2. If known, how much is spent indirectly by the Council on the diversion of telecommunication utilities in 2022 and 2023, by paying developers to do this work on the council's behalf

3. Does the Council have any resources in-house (or externally) to audit these costs and mitigate them or reduce them in any way
We have been advised by our Assistant Director of Highways and Project Manager that to collate this information would exceed the 18hours (section 12) and therefore we are refusing this request.
We have been advised that they would need to investigate all scheme files completed between 2022 & 2023, review what utility apparatus was diverted and cross reference that with contract spend to identify the figures being requested.
When considering Major Schemes, Capital Projects, Highways DC, Housing, Traffic Management all would have completed schemes during this period and with some of the projects being overseen by colleagues who have left the Council this would be extremely time consuming.
A lot of the payments made to utility providers for diversionary works, are paid up front and then the Council can often receive a refund after completion (C9 stage), and therefore it wouldn’t simply be a case of finding all payments made to the companies listed, we’d then need to ensure the full process had taken place and account for the refund that was received (if we did receive anything back).
Some refunds can take over a year to be paid back – so each project would take at least an hour if investigated by the scheme Project Manager, and longer still if looking into a colleagues scheme files. With a high chance that some schemes could still be awaiting refunds.