Response 4072768

Response to request for information

Reference

4072768

Response date

25 August 2026

Request

To the extent permissible by law, any information relating to Environmental Health activities including but not limited to inspections, findings, assessments, reports, enforcement action, concerns received, whistleblowing events, premises ratings (excluding the publicly available Food Hygiene Ratings) and communications both internally within the organisation and its agents and contractors and externally such as with the businesses concerned, related parties such as landlords, freeholders, neighbours and workers or agents thereof, the public or interested parties (eg. Neighbours, community members, elected and unelected representatives). For the avoidance of doubt this includes information that relates to such events that have occurred, are planned to occur or contemplated.

The scope may be limited to information created, stored, known to be accessed, or related to events during the period 1st January 2026 to the date of response to this enquiry or as close thereto as possible, but in no event not extending until the date of submission of this request. The scope may be limited to information pertaining to businesses or properties engaged in the sale of food intended predominantly for off-premises consumption where the business is based in or trading from within the Lady Bay ward.

Where any information that may reasonably have been within the scope of this request but is known to have been expunged, redacted, deleted, destroyed or lost whether wilfully or inadvertently before the submission of this request any information that is held as to what information is no longer available, the circumstances by which it became unavailable including but not limited to the date and time it ceased to be available and any other information pertaining to its loss or destruction including the reason therefore, operational impact thereof and all information held relating to the loss or destruction and any investigation, enquiries, reports, communication, policies, Human Resources or disciplinary action, leading to or resulting from the loss or destruction.

Clarification

For the avoidance of doubt my initial request was not scoped to “take away premises”. I would be pleased to refine my request to relate only to the premises known as “Trent Boulevard Co-op, 111 Trent Boulevard, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 5BN” and any associated organisations and individuals.

Response

Thank you for your request for information received on 27/7/2026 and clarified by you on 10/8/2026.  We are responding to the clarified request.  We have considered whether this request comes within the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.  While there are elements that amount to environmental information, we have determined, on the basis of the type of information sought, that it is more appropriate to apply the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

This background information will give context to the response:

• The food business trading as Co-operative Group, 111 Trent Boulevard, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, NG2 5BN was visited unannounced as part of a routine food hygiene inspection programme on 24 June 2026. This is the only Environmental Health activity during the period of 1st January 2026 until the routine food hygiene inspection carried out on 24 June 2026. Following that inspection, the business has been visited by Environmental Health Officers a further three occasions to assess food hygiene compliance.  
• The premises rating for the business is calculated as part of official food controls and within the Food Law Code of Practice (England) (Issued 23 October 2025) Food Standards Agency, Annex 1 Food Establishment Intervention Rating Schemes. This annex sets out food hygiene and food standards intervention ratings, together with the minimum frequencies for interventions at food establishments. These ratings determine the minimum intervention frequency applicable to a business. In this case, the next intervention frequency for this business category and numerical score is that of at least every 12 months.  
• At the present time no formal enforcement action has been taken in relation to the recent inspection.

Partial Refusal Notice under s17 of FOIA 

The food hygiene inspection report dated 24th June 2026 is accessible by other means and is therefore exempt from disclosure under s21 of FOIA.  This report can be viewed on the Council’s website Response 4075866 - Rushcliffe Borough Council

Information Not Held 

Regarding the request for communications with elected and non-elected representatives, we confirm that we have undertaken reasonable and proportionate searches of our records for the requested information.  We can confirm that the information requested is not held by the Council. Under Section 1(4) FOIA the Council is only obliged to provide information which it holds in recorded form as at the date of your request.  Under section 16 of FOIA,  we have a duty to provide advice and assistance. The Head of Communications has provided the following confirmation:  “There were no updates requested by elected representatives to Council officers on this matter and we cannot comment on any other routes of communication”.

Partial Refusal Notice under s17 of FOIA

We can neither confirm nor deny whether we hold information provided by whistleblowers, as such disclosure would be likely to breach an actual or potential whistleblower’s expectation of confidentiality.  It is in the public interest to maintain this expectation of confidentiality in order to encourage individuals with knowledge of wrongdoing or risks to public safety to come forward.  

Partial Refusal Notice under s17 of FOIA

We hold information on findings arising from inspections, site visits and communications with relevant parties.  However, we are not disclosing information that remains relevant to ongoing investigations and proceedings, in accordance with section 30(1)(b) of FOIA.  This is a qualified exemption and we have considered whether the public interest in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the exemption.  The factors considered are:

For Disclosure

•    It is important that the Council is transparent and accountable.
•    It is in the public interest to understand the actions taken to protect public safety.

For Maintaining the Exemption

•    Premature disclosure is likely to prejudice the investigation.
•    Disclosure may limit the procedural options available to the Council.
•    Disclosure may reduce the likelihood of a successful prosecution.