Request ID: FOI-2951-2324 Date published: 13 December 2023
You asked
Dear Sir/Madam
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide evidence that TFL, the Met Police and the London Borough of Waltham Forest council are all 'working in partnership' to reduce speeds to 20mph (according to the attached document).
This evidence should date from January 2018 to the present day and should include:
• all correspondence with the relevant LBWF council departments/person/s in charge of the 'saving lives 20mph speed limit' re. proactive measures that are in place,
• all correspondence with TFL and the Met police,
• all speed gun operations with the Met police to show bus speeds,
• evidence of bus speeds for the number 97 and 215 along the A112 road which clearly show buses adhering to the 'saving lives 20mph speed limit,'
• 97 and 215 bus timetables which reflect timings incorporating the 'saving lives 20mph speed limit.'
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2951-2324
Thank you for your further request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 15th November 2023 asking for information about reducing road speeds. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide evidence that TFL, the Met Police and the London Borough of Waltham Forest council are all 'working in partnership' to reduce speeds to 20mph (according to the attached document).
This evidence should date from January 2018 to the present day and should include:
all correspondence with the relevant LBWF council departments/person/s in charge of the 'saving lives 20mph speed limit' re. proactive measures that are in place,
all correspondence with TFL and the Met police,
all speed gun operations with the Met police to show bus speeds,
evidence of bus speeds for the number 97 and 215 along the A112 road which clearly show buses adhering to the 'saving lives 20mph speed limit,'
97 and 215 bus timetables which reflect timings incorporating the 'saving lives 20mph speed limit.'.
I am afraid that it is not possible to source all of the information requested within the costs limit for responding to FOI cases, as set out under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Under section 12, TfL is not obliged to provide information if it would cost more than £450 to determine if the requested information is held, and to then locate, retrieve or extract it from elsewhere. This is calculated at a rate of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work. In this instance the exemption applies because the requested information has not been collated before, and there is no particularly quick or efficient way of doing so. This is especially the case regarding your questions asking for “all correspondence” between TfL and the local council and the police, although answering the other question in addition would add to the costs burden further.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to reframe it to narrow its scope. In doing so you may want to review the advice published by the Information Commissioner on how best to access information from public bodies, available on its website here:
As you can see, the Commissioner advises that applicants make their requests as specific as possible and to not, “...submit catch-all requests such as “send me everything about x”.
Further, before considering any new request you may wish to review the information already published on the TfL website about road speeds and road safety, which can be seen via the following links:
