The following request was sent on 16th August (the same day that I wrote to the DfT, who responded with a wide range of papers this morning) to Wiltshire County Council

Please supply me with the following, under FOI (Freedom of Information)

1. Copies of correspondence from and to the Department for Transport and its ministers, Government Offices South West, and the Strategic Rail Authority concerning train services on the following railway line:
        Swindon - Chippenham - Melsksham - Trowbridge - Westbury
from August 2004 to date.

2. Copies of studies made in relation to passenger transport requirements (including car, taxi, bus and train journeys) in the past five years, and including projections where available, on the Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Warminster corridor.

3. Copies of correspondence with neighbouring authoriries (BaNES, Swindon, Gloucstershire, Hampshire, Dorset and Berkshire) in relation to railway services that run through Wiltshire and those counties, in particular showing any discussions of co-ordinated activity on the services, for the past 3 years.

4. Details of subsidies paid to bus operators who also operate train services in Wiltshire (Stagecoach and the First Group), for the years 2005 and 2006, and projections for the year 2007.

5. Copies of correspondence and any available internal emails or memoranda relating to the provison of public transport (road and rail) service from Chippenham Railway station to Lacock, Melksham and Trowbridge in the last 18 months.

Please advise ahead of time if there is more than 18 hours of work in preparing any of these five FOI requests.

Graham Ellis


I received the following reply:

Dear Mr Ellis

Thank you for you request for information received on 16th August 2006.

Section 39 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 exempts environmental
information from being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000, and provides that it must be dealt with under the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004, which also came into force on the 1st
January 2005.  "Environmental information" is given a very wide
interpretation in this legislation.

I consider that your request must therefore be dealt with under the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.  Those regulations provide
that the authority may make charge a fee for providing information.  I
will assess the cost of providing the information and send you a fees
notice in the near future. 

I understand your request to be:

1. Copies of correspondence from and to the Department for Transport and
its ministers, Government Offices South West, and the Strategic Rail
Authority concerning train services on the following railway line:
Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury from August 2004
to date.

2. Copies of studies made in relation to passenger transport
requirements (including car, taxi, bus and train journeys) in the past
five years, and including projections where available, on the Chippenham
- Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Warminster corridor.

3. Copies of correspondence with neighbouring authorities (B&NES,
Swindon, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Dorset and Berkshire) in relation
to railway services that run through Wiltshire and those counties, in
particular showing any discussions of co-ordinated activity on the
services, for the past 3 years.

4. Details of subsidies paid to bus operators who also operate train
services in Wiltshire (Stagecoach and the First Group), for the years
2005 and 2006, and projections for the year 2007.

5. Copies of correspondence and any available internal emails or
memoranda relating to the provision of public transport (road and rail)
service from Chippenham Railway station to Lacock, Melksham and
Trowbridge in the last 18 months.

I may contact you if the request needs to be clarified; this is to
ensure that we provide you with the information you require.

Andrew Mullens
Admin & Projects Co-ordinator
Environmental Services Dept


I have not heard further as yet.