Ministry of Defence

D3, Building 405 SN13 9NR United Kingdom

Ref: FOI2020/10928 E-mail: [email protected] Mr Joe Smith request-695018- 2 November 2020 [email protected]

Dear Mr Smith,

Thank you for your email of 29 September 2020 requesting the following information:

“1. the most recent technical drawings / mine abandonment plans of the following MOD sites;

MOD Corsham Underground Site / Surface Workings Burlington Complex Underground Site / Surface Workings Tunnel Quarry Ammunition Depot Tunnel & Ammunition Depot Eastlays Quarry Ridge Quarry Spring Quarry Westwood Quarry Royal Enfield Factory Drakelow Underground Facility Copenacre Storage Site RAF Rudloe Manor No10 HQ Monks Park Facility RAF Chilmark Storage Faciltiy

2. Any recent video survey footage of these mines”

I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

A search for the information has now been completed within the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and I can confirm that some of the information in scope of your request is held.

The information you have requested relating to the “Information held for MOD Corsham Underground site, Surface workings Burlington Complex underground site, Surface Workings Tunnel Quarry Ammunition Depot, Spring Quarry, No10 HQ” falls entirely within the scope of the qualified exemptions provided for at Section 26 (Defence) and Section 31 (Law Enforcement) of the FOIA and has been withheld.

Section 26 and 31 are qualified exemptions and are subject to public interest testing which means that the information requested can only be withheld if the public interest in doing so outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Section 26(1)(a) and (b) has been applied because releasing information relating to “Information held for MOD Corsham Underground site, Surface workings Burlington Complex underground site, Surface Workings Tunnel Quarry Ammunition Depot, Spring Quarry, No10 HQ”” would provide useful intelligence to those who may have malicious intent and assist them in gaining unlawful access to MOD property; which in turn, would have a severe impact on Defence if access to systems and services was obtained.

Section 31(1)(a) has been applied because releasing information relating to “Information held for MOD Corsham Underground site, Surface workings Burlington Complex underground site, Surface Workings Tunnel Quarry Ammunition Depot, Spring Quarry, No10 HQ” would provide useful intelligence to those who may have malicious intent and assist them in gaining unlawful access to MOD property. For these reasons I have set the level of prejudice against release of the exempted information at the higher level of “would” rather than “would be likely to”.

The balance of the public interest test concluded that whilst release would increase transparency of MODs use of the underground tunnels in Corsham, the balance of the public interest lay in withholding the information you have requested.

No information is held for the following sites:

Monkton Farleigh Tunnel & Ammunition Depot Eastlays Quarry Ridge Quarry Westwood Quarry Royal Enfield Factory Drakelow Underground Facility Copenacre Storage Site RAF Rudloe Manor Monks Park Facility RAF Chilmark Storage Facility

Under Section 16 (help and advice) We believe all the sites listed above are privately owned having been sold off following the end of the Cold War and subsequent drawdowns.

Significant documentation on these sites is already in the public domain, we would suggest contacting The National Archives to see if they hold any relevant information. Please see link to their site for ease. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/legislation/public-records-act/public- records-system/

If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the first instance.

If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response, you can request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [email protected]). Please note that any request for an internal review should be made within 40 working days of the date of this response.

If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at https://ico.org.uk/.

Yours sincerely,

Defence Digital Secretariat