L'Horizon Hotel noise abatement notices (FOI)

Request

Please provide the following records:-

A

All official noise abatement notices served on the L'Horizon Hotel in 2023.

B

All official noise abatement notices served on the same establishment within the last 20 years to include the following:-. 

• The text of each notice, including any specific allegations or violations noted;
  
• The dates on which each notice was issued;
  
• The outcomes of these notices, including any follow-up actions or enforcement taken;
  
• Any issued warnings regarding noise form the Government to this establishment; and
  
• All relevant correspondence related to these noise abatement notices. This includes any correspondence between the L'Horizon Hotel and the government concerning the notices.

Response

A and B

The attached Abatement Notices were served on the relevant parties at L'Horizon Hotel on 22 June 2023. These were served under the Statutory Nuisances (Jersey) Law 1999 in relation to noise coming from the premises. 

Abatement Notice Hand Picked Hotels DR_Redacted.pdf

Abatement Notice L'Horizon DR_Redacted.pdf

Personal information within these documents has been redacted in accordance with Article 25 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. 

Information in relation to 2023 Abatement Notice has been withheld in accordance with Article 42 (Law Enforcement) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as it relates to a live compliance case.

Article 42 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

The current system used by the Environmental and Consumer Protection’s Housing and Nuisance team was introduced in 2013.   This shows that one noise abatement notice has been served in relation to L'Horizon Hotel from the introduction of this system to date, the 2023 case.

It should be noted that Environmental and Consumer Protection’s (formerly Environmental Health) do not retain customer complaint documentation for longer than seven years after the closure of the complaint as detailed in the linked Retention Schedule.  

Therefore, this information is not held and Article 10 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Department of the Environment Environmental Health Retention Schedule.pdf (gov.je)

Articles applied

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding Information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly.

(2) If a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority and –

(a) the information is absolutely exempt information or qualified exempt information; or

(b) if the authority does not hold the information, the information would be absolutely exempt

information or qualified exempt information if it had held it, the authority may refuse to inform the applicant whether or not it holds the information if it is satisfied that, in all the circumstances of the case, it is in the public interest to do so.

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 42 - Law enforcement

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice –

(a) the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

(b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, whether in respect of offences committed in Jersey or elsewhere;

(c) the administration of justice, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

Public Interest Test

Whilst disclosure of the information would support transparency, promote accountability to the general public and provide confirmation that necessary actions are taking place, the investigations in this matter remain ongoing.

As such it is considered that disclosure of these records would likely prejudice the outcome and the result of the case and that this potential prejudice outweighs the public interest in favour of disclosure at this time.