Every little boy and girl in West Cheshire will be interested in the answer to a question just lodged under the Freedom of Information Act: Does the council have an emergency plan in the event that Santa’s sleigh crash lands in the borough?
Requester Sean Ponsford has previously used the legislation to ask about weighty matters in relation to HMP Altcourse in Liverpool and a work programme in Chester and Ellesmere Port.
But Mr Ponsford’s latest request suggests he is full of Christmas cheer along with the council’s Freedom of Information (FOI) section, judging by its humorous holding response.
He asked: “Dear Cheshire West and Chester Council, what preparations has the council made for an emergency landing of Santa’s sleigh this Christmas? Who would be responsible for rescuing Santa? Who would be responsible for rounding up the reindeer, and who would have to tidy the crash site?”
Changing topics, Mr Ponsford continued: “What preparations has the council made for a zombie attack? What plans are in place to deal with an alien invasion? Yours faithfully, Sean Ponsford.”
Mr Ponsford, who submitted the FOI request through website What Do They Know?, is due to receive a full response no later than January 21, 2015, long after Santa has hopefully been and gone having safely delivered all his presents.
The CWaC team replied: "Dear Mr Ponsford, Thank you for your email of 18 December 2014. It will be treated as a request within the meaning of the Act: this means that we will send you a full response within 20 working days, either supplying you with the information which you want, or explaining to you why we cannot supply it.”
Getting into the spirit, the council officer ended: “In the meantime if you wish to discuss this further please contact FOI West. It would be helpful if you could quote the log number. Yours sincerely, Elf & Safety Team.”
Hoole resident Nic Siddle, a regular user of the FOI website, commented: "Nice to see that someone in the FOI team at the Solutions Team in CWaC retains a sense of humour. I wish all ‘Santa’s little helpers’ a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...”
