The district of Ashfield lies to the north of Nottingham, covers about 11,000 hectares and has a population of about 107,900. The M1 motorway runs through the west of the district. To the north is the town and district of Mansfield, while Newark and Gedling districts border on the east.

The district is made up of three major towns and a number of villages. Hucknall (population 29,180) borders Nottingham in the south and is separated from Kirkby-in-Ashfield (population 18,895) and the rest of the district by a band of countryside. Sutton-in-Ashfield (population 40,410) lies immediately north of Kirkby-in-Ashfield and south of the town of Mansfield. To the west of the M1 is a rural area containing the villages of Underwood, Jacksdale (including Westwood) and Selston with populations of 2,850, 3,310 and 5,810. South of Kirkby-in-Ashfield lies Annesley and other smaller villages with a combined population of 7,445.

During the 1980's and early 1990s, the economy of Ashfield went through a lot of change. In 1981 there were seven collieries, and mining employed over 12,000 people. The last colliery closed in January 2000. Despite national trends away from manufacturing employment, there has been a small increase in jobs in the hosiery, textiles and clothing industry.

Ashfield District Council was set up on 1 April 1974 and covers the former urban districts of Hucknall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield, together with the parishes of Annesley, Felley and Selston, which were part of the old Basford Rural district.

The District is divided into 15 wards represented by 33 councillors. Following the local government elections of May 2003, we have 16 Labour, 14 Independent, 1 Conservative and 2 Green Party Councillors.

At the moment we employ roughly 600 permanent staff. We directly provide a wide range of services including grounds maintenance, highways work, street cleaning and collecting refuse to name a few.

In April 2002, we started working with an outside organisation to help us manage leisure centres. At the same time we also set up an arms-length management arrangement to help us maintain the authorities housing stock.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have the right to see any information we hold about you. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (which received royal approval on the 30 November 2000) plans to extend the right to allow public access to all types of information that public authorities hold, including us.

The Act sets out what information is not covered by that right and puts a number of duties on us.

The Act will not come fully into force until 30 November 2005.

However, one of the requirements that the Act makes is that every local authority must adopt and maintain a publication scheme from February 2003.

A publication scheme will:

We are working to make ourselves more open and already make large amounts of information available to the public, through our website or through our offices and district libraries.

We want to involve the public as much as possible, and have included this thinking into our Core Values e.g.

And also into our Corporate Objectives

"COMMUNITY LIAISON

To communicate and consult in an open and friendly manner in order to engage and involve the communities of Ashfield in all of the Councils work."

The publication scheme and the full introduction of the Freedom of Information Act in 2005 will help us continue to make our service more open and accessible to the public.

The aim of the publication scheme is to make a significant amount of information available, without waiting for someone to ask to see it.

Under section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we will make information about our performance, service delivery and decision-making process widely available.

The officer responsible for the publication scheme is Mr J Christopher, the
Assistant Chief Executive Officer.

The officer responsible for maintaining the scheme on a day-to-day basis is
Mr A Gray, the Management Support Officer. You can phone him on 01623 457244 or email him at a.gray@ashfield-dc.gov.uk.

Under section 19 (1c) of the Act, we must regularly review the scheme.

We plan to do this and will continually add classes of information as we become more open in what we do.

We will then update or website and paper copies of the publication scheme.

The publication scheme is built around making it easier for the person asking for information to get access to it. The structure of the scheme is based on the main categories of our website, which have been designed with this in mind.

The classes of information we use are general so you don't need to know how our organisation is structured to find your way through the scheme.

The scheme uses categories and subcategories of information to make it easier to find specific classes of information.

The scheme explains classes of information and sometimes a description to give you enough information to identify what is included and what information is not included.

To help you search for information, there are diagrams of the scheme and an index of classes that lists information alphabetically.

We plan to make much of the information available on this website. However information will be available in other formats such as printed copies and diagrams. You can also make an appointment to see the information.

The publication scheme does not limit or change any rights that people have to information.

The scheme lists who you need to contact to ask for information, and gives their address, phone number and email address. When contacting us please remember to leave your name, address and phone number together with clear detailed request, so that we may provide the required information.

We will also make paper copies of the publication scheme available at all our Offices and at district libraries.

If you have special needs, or if English in not your first language, we can also provide copies in larger print, on audiocassette and in other languages.

We plan to make as much information available as possible without charging for it, there is no intention to charge for information that has previously been made free of charge, though there will be instances where this is not possible and charges will apply.

In broad terms the following conditions will apply:

We welcome comments and suggestions on how we can improve the scheme, as it is important that the scheme meets your needs.

Your comments on the following questions would help us to develop the scheme and make us more open in how we work.

Please send your reply to:

Mr A Gray
Management Support Officer

Ashfield District Council
Council Offices
Kirkby-in-Ashfield
Nottingham
East Midlands
NG17 8DA.

Phone: 01623 457244
email: a.gray@ashfield-dc.gov.uk

We would normally expect the named officer to understand what information you have asked for and to tell you where you can find it. If the information you receive is not what you need, you should first contact the named officer.

If the information you asked for is not available, the named officer will tell you why.

If you believe that we have not dealt with your request fairly and cannot deal with it satisfactorily on an informal basis, you should follow our complaints procedure. You can get details of this from:

Main Reception
Central Offices
Urban Road
Kirkby-in-Ashfield
Nottingham
East Midlands
NG17 8DA

Phone: 01623 450000

If you have followed our complaints procedure and are still not happy with how we have dealt with your request, you may also contact the Information Commissioner to ask them to investigate the matter. You can contact the Information Commissioner at:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF.

Phone: 01625 545700
email: data@dataprotection.gov.uk

The section gives you the following information.

Although the Freedom of Information Act 2000 creates a general right of access to information, it also sets out what information we do not have to make available (Part 2. Sections 21 to 44). This type of information is known as an "exemption".

We plan to use the minimum exemptions when we make information available. But we will have to refuse access if health, welfare and safety of our staff may be at risk or if commercial interests would be harmed if we revealed certain types of information. Personal information that refers to staff or members of the public is also exempt as this information falls under the Data Protection Act 1998.

If exemptions apply to particular information, then we will make this clear within the class description.