TfL Ref: 1283-1920

Thank you for your email received by us on 30 July 2019 asking for information about distributed antennae systems for 5G technology.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. You asked:

1. How many planning applications for small cell sites or distributed antennae systems for 5G did you receive during 2018?

2. How many planning applications for small cell sites or distributed antennae systems for 5G did you approve during 2018?

3. How many planning applications for small cell or distributed antennae systems for 5G have you received since January 1st 2019?

4. How many planning applications for small cell sites or distributed antennae systems for 5G have been approved since January 1st 2019?

5. How many planning applications were followed by street work permit requests or similar in 2018?

6. How many planning applications were followed by street work permit requests or similar in 2019?

7. How many street work permits have been granted in since January 1st 2019?

TfL is not a local planning authority and has no direct responsibility for determining planning applications for 5G equipment. In London this duty falls to the local planning authorities (LPA), which are the 32 boroughs, the Corporation of London, the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) and the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC). The LPAs consult TfL on certain types of development and in certain locations which would likely include some 5G proposals, however TfL is a consultee not a decision maker.

We consult on some 4000 applications a year. Given the volume of these applications and due to different local planning authorities and operators describing 5G proposals in their own unique way, to try and identify which of these were for 5G equipment would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This is because we would need to manually review several thousand planning applications to see if they fell within the scope of your request and extract the relevant details into a format suitable for disclosure.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of the organisation.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

In these circumstances, we suggest you approach the aforementioned LPAs for this information.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London