Poortown Road Signage

Summary

The requester sought correspondence with the Attorney General's Chambers and internal reports regarding the inspection and removal of signage on Poortown Road. The Department of Infrastructure disclosed some emails related to signage complaints but withheld legally privileged legal advice and specific inspection reports.

Key Facts

• Legal advice from the Attorney General's Chambers was sought on 11 May 2023 and is considered legally privileged.
• The Department cited public safety concerns regarding confusion caused by the signs erected on the requester's property.
• Signage at Pulrose Bridge and Old Laxey Hill was inspected and found not to contravene the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1985.
• The response included emails regarding disabled parking signs on Derby Road, which were reported as potentially unauthorized.
• The outcome was classified as 'Some information sent but part exempt'.

Data Disclosed

• 11 May 2023
• 28 March 2024
• 25 January 2024
• 31 January 2024
• Road Traffic Regulations Act 1985
• Section 25 (1)(a)
• 3 disabled parking signs
• 17 pages
• 2 documents

Exemptions Cited

• Legal privilege regarding advice from the Attorney General's Chambers
• Section 25 (1)(a)

Original Request

In an e-mail to me dated the 28th March 2024 the Department's Complaints Officer Ms Nicole Marais stated (inter alia) - 'I can confirm that on 11th May 2023, legal advice was initially sought from the Attorney General's Chambers. The Attorney Generals Chamber's continue to advise the Department in this matter. This advice is legally privileged and its disclosure to you is prohibited.' Please let me have copies of all e-mails and/or hard copy correspondence sent to and received from the Attorney General's Chambers. In the same e-mail from Ms Marais, Ms Marais stated - '……..the signs you have erected on your walls have caused confusion to motorists, thus resulting in concerns being received from member/s of the public. It is therefore for the public's safety and in the public's interest that these signs have been removed from your property.' Did the person who inspected the signs, test motorists' confusion by driving past our property and was such person facing oncoming traffic at the time of his/her inspection, or did he/she not have their eyes on the road and instead were looking directly away from oncoming traffic? Assuming that the person concerned was confused when he/she inspected the signs, did the person concerned stop his/her vehicle to allow their confusion to dissipate, before proceeding on their journey? Did the person who inspected the signs make contemporaneous notes of their inspection of the signs to record their confusion? If they did then please let me have a copy of such notes. On the assumption that the person concerned made a report of their inspection/evaluation of the signage and their experience when driving past our property which led them to reach the conclusions cited in Ms Marais e-mail above, please let me have a copy of their report of their evaluation. You must surely have such an evaluation because in relation to my formal complaint referenced in this statement from Ms Marais referred to in the same e-mail 'The signage installations referenced in your complaint, notably on Pulrose Bridge and Old Laxey Hill, have been subject to inspection' and upon evaluation, these installations do not contravene the provisions outlined in the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1985.' If an "evaluation" was carried out in relation to the signage at these places, an "evaluation" must surely have been carried out at my property. If I haven't already requested a copy of the evaluation in relation to my formal complaint in a separate FOI Request, then please let me have a copy of the "evaluation" referred to. Please let me have copies of all internal and e-mails and hard copy correspondence which relate to the removal of the signage from my property, other than those which you'll be aware I'm already in possession of.

Data Tables (2)

Full Response Text

Appendix 1 3 Highway Services  Department of Infrastructure  Ellerslie Depot Crosby Isle of Man IM4 2HA Tel: 850000  2 From: noreply@gov.im [mailto:noreply@gov.im]
Sent: 25 January 2024 13:56 To: DOI, Enquiries Subject: Contact received from website Contact Received from website From: <

Message:I've noticed 3 disabled parking signs on Derby Road just past the junction to Ballaquane Road, coming from Peel side. There are no disabled road markings and part of the signs has been blacked out. I was just wondering if these were actually genuine signs as they look like the owners of surrounding houses have placed them there. WARNING: This email message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. You must not copy or deliver it to any other person or use the contents in any unauthorised manner without the express permission of the sender. If you are not the intended addressee of this e- mail, please delete it and notify the sender as soon as possible. No employee or agent is authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of any of the Departments or Statutory Boards of the Isle of Man Government with any party by e-mail without express written confirmation by a Manager of the relevant Department or Statutory Board. RAAUE: S’preevaadjagh yn çhaghteraght post-l shoh chammah’s coadanyn erbee currit marish as ta shoh coadit ec y leigh. Cha nhegin diu coipal ny cur eh da peiagh erbee elley ny ymmydey yn chooid t’ayn er aght erbee dyn kied leayr veih’n choyrtagh. Mannagh nee shiu yn enmyssagh kiarit jeh’n phost-l shoh, doll-shiu magh eh, my sailliu, as cur-shiu fys da’n choyrtagh cha leah as oddys shiu. Cha nel kied currit da failleydagh ny jantagh erbee conaant y yannoo rish peiagh ny possan erbee lesh post-l er son Rheynn ny Boayrd Slattyssagh erbee jeh Reiltys Ellan Vannin dyn co-niartaghey scruit leayr veih Reireyder y Rheynn ny Boayrd Slattyssagh t’eh bentyn rish. Section 25 (1)(a) 3  Please don't print this email unless you really need to.  DOI Values: Communication; Respect; Teamwork; Recognition; Trust; Customer Service. WARNING: This email message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. You must not copy or deliver it to any other person or use the contents in any unauthorised manner without the express permission of the sender. If you are not the intended addressee of this e-mail, please delete it and notify the sender as soon as possible.  http://www.twitter.com/iominfra http://www.facebook.com/iominfrastructure 1 From: Sent: 31 January 2024 11:57 To: Subject: RE: Poor town Rd signs Perfect thank you  From:  Sent: 31 January 2024 11:56  To: 

Subject: Poor town Rd signs  Hi As requested all the signs are the same with any writing blacked out. Thanks Sent from Outlook for Android Section 25 (1)(a) Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF If you require any further information or have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me, I would be more than willing to assist in any way I can. Yours sincerely Moreblessing Pedhuru (Ms) Interim Director of Highway Services/Head of Highways and Asset Management Department of Infrastructure Isle of Man Government Sea Terminal Douglas Isle of Man IM1 2RF Tel 01624 720930

Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF

Contact: FOI Response Team Telephone: (01624) 686785 Email: dpo-doi@gov.im

Our ref: 3803689 26 June 2024

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 16 April 2024, which states:

1. “Copies of all and/or hard copy correspondence sent to and received from the Attorney General's Chambers in relation to advice on the matter of signs on Poortown Road
2. Copies of notes from the individual that undertook the inspection of signs on Poortown Road if these were created
3. Copy of the evaluation undertook of the signs on Poortown Road
4. Copies of all internal emails and hardcopy correspondence which relate to the removal of signs on Poortown Road “

Please see our response to your request below:

1. Some information not held (Hard copy correspondence) and some information exempt. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt from disclosure under section 40 of the Act as it is information in respect of which a claim to legal professions privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings. As section 40 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large. The matters which were considered in applying the public interest test are as follows:

Factors in favour of disclosure • Promoting transparency and accountability

Factors in favour of withholding • Legal privilege allows for free and frank conversation between the Department and its legal advisers which could be inhibited by disclosure.
• The Department is required to request legal advice to carry out its functions appropriately to ensure that it is fully informed when it comes to decision making.

• Disclosure of legal advice could prejudice the Department's ability to protect and defend its legal interests. • Ongoing/ live matter.

In taking these factors into account the Department of Infrastructure determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information.

1. Information is not held: Visual inspections were completed and no information on assessment has been retained.

2. Information not held: Visual inspections were completed and no information on assessment has been retained.

3. Information held: Please see Appendix 1 for internal emails and hard copy correspondence which relate to the removal of signs on Poortown Road. In addition, please refer to the explanations of the redactions in Appendix 1 below.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, part of your request constitutes your own personal data, therefore, redactions have been made on the email chains where you are the data subject which is not releasable under FOIA. This has been identified in the Appendix 1 in red text stating “Section 25 (1)(a)”. If you would like the Department of Infrastructure to proceed with your request as if it were a Subject Access Request (“SAR”) for your own personal data, then please confirm that to us. Your SAR will then be processed pursuant to the GDPR & LED Implementing Regulations 2018 (“the Implementing Regulations”), particularly in accordance with Regulation 43 (rights of access of a data subject), and subject to Regulation 44 (any applicable restrictions to access). Additionally, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because it is absolutely exempt under section 25 of the Act (absolutely exempt personal information). The reasons why that exemption applies are that: • The Department of Infrastructure is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and • The Department of Infrastructure is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to the Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018, namely that the Department of Infrastructure can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and in this case, none of those conditions have been met.

Please quote the reference number 3803689 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.