Freedom of information response
State Cinema Grays Meetings
Q1. What were the dates of the meetings between The Council, Historic England and the owners of the State Cinema?
Q.2. What were the main outcomes of the meetings, particularly in terms of learning the owner's plans for the building.
Q.3. In the immediate term, and in The Council meeting their statutory obligations of ensuring the protection of the building, what orders have been given to the owners to effect the securing the building from intruders and vandals, and carrying out repairs to ensure water-tightness of the roof? And have these been carried out?
Q.4. What is the name and contact details of the owners?
Q1. What were the dates of the meetings between The Council, Historic England and the owners of the State Cinema?
28.07.2023 – Site visit
26.10.2023 - Microsoft Teams Call
02.11.2023 – Microsoft Teams Call
08.11.2023 – Microsoft Teams Call
16.11.2023 – Microsoft Teams Call
14.02.2024 – Microsoft Teams Call
Q.2. What were the main outcomes of the meetings, particularly in terms of learning the owner's plans for the building.
General discussion took place with regards to the new Owner’s plans for the future use of the building and possible timescales. Due to commercial confidentiality, specific details cannot be provided.
Q.3. In the immediate term, and in The Council meeting their statutory obligations of ensuring the protection of the building, what orders have been given to the owners to effect the securing the building from intruders and vandals, and carrying out repairs to ensure water-tightness of the roof? And have these been carried out?
The Council has not served any formal notices, at this time, on the new Owners of the building in relation to repair of the building. The Owners have been told that the building should be made watertight and kept in sound condition and that the building should be secured. The Owners are keen to keep the building secure and watertight and it is anticipated that progress will be made in the near future.
Q.4. What is the name and contact details of the owners?
We are unable to provide the contact details under S40.
Unfortunately we are unable to provide in full the information you have requested. We do hold the information but an absolute exemption applies. Personal Information (Section 40,2)
Personal data of any other person (third party data) is exempt under section 40(2) if disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles. This aspect of Section 40 is an Absolute Exemption and is therefore not subject to the Public Interest Test.
The names of officers working for the Council is personal data specific to them. It is therefore subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Information can be withheld if its disclosure would be likely to breach one or more of the Principles of the Data Protection Act. There is no prior expectation on the part of team Managers (or other officers working below the level of Director) that their names and job titles / positions would be published into the wider public domain under FOI. A disclosure made under FOI constitutes a publication to the world at large. We believe that to disclose this would be likely to breach the first Principle of the Data Protection Act by unfairly contravening their right to privacy and confidentiality in the work place.
However, in the interests of transparency we are able to share details relating to senior officers (Director level and above). For these officers, there is already a greater expectation of openness about their role given their level of accountability for service provision and budgetary decision making.
For your information please see the following link which outlines staff details of Director and above: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/chief-executive-directors-and-services