FI16936

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting a current and comprehensive list of all land and property assets owned or leased by Dover District Council that are classified as commercial, investment, or income-generating.

Specifically, for each property/asset held for these purposes, please provide the following information in an Excel or CSV format:

  1. Property Details: Address (including postcode), UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number), and a brief description of the asset (e.g., retail unit, office, industrial, ground lease).
  2. Valuation: The most recent market valuation of the asset and the date this valuation was recorded.
  3. Acquisition: The date the property was acquired by the Council and the original purchase price.
  4. Financial Performance: The gross annual rental income generated by the asset for the most recent financial year (2024/25 or 2025/26). I would like this broken down into the rental income, and business rates income where appropriate
  5. Tenure: Whether the Council holds the freehold or a leasehold interest.
  6. Rateable Value: The current rateable value of the property.

I am aware that some of this information may be required to be published under the Local Government Transparency Code 2015. If the Council already maintains a "Land and Asset Register" or "Transparency Data" set that includes these fields, please provide the link to the most recent version or attach the relevant spreadsheet. As I understand it, councils are not required to publish the specifically financial information requested above, hence my asking.

Response

Property Details can be found published on the Council website using the following link:  https://www.dover.gov.uk/Corporate-Information/Council-Land-Buildings.aspx   and the current rateable value is published on the Government’s website: https://www.gov.uk/find-business-rates 

However, the remainder of the information is not readily available,  and from our preliminary assessment, we have estimated that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’.   The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for Local Government it is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2½ working days in determining whether the information is held, locating, retrieving and extracting the data. I regret therefore, that on this occasion I must refuse this part of your request in accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act.