Registers of Scotland

Can you advise if the attachment [omitted from this response] that purports to be a survey carried out by Ordnance Survey was indeed supplied by Ordnance Survey?

Would this "request" be conducted as part of the Historic Mapping process, and would the surveyor include scaffolding poles in such a survey. Do OS normally conduct site surveys of this nature on behalf of the Registers of Scotland?

Thank you for your e-mail dated 31^st January 2011. We are pleased to provide you with the following information with regard to your request.

Ordnance Survey no longer holds records pertaining to this particular case from 1989. However we are happy to acknowledge that this is a common type of request from Registers of Scotland to Ordnance Survey, which seeks to obtain an independent set of dimensions for specific alignments associated with a particular property, for use during the process of land registration.

The attachment you have supplied with your request, appears to be a copy of a 'survey requisition' from Registers of Scotland to a local Ordnance Survey office, specifically asking Ordnance Survey to provide dimensions associated with specific points identified on a print of an extract of an Ordnance Survey large scales plan which would have been supplied with the requisition, but is not included within the documents in your request. 

 The document indicates that in addition to updating the current "master-trace", as per requisition 2 on the face of the proforma, the Ordnance Survey surveyor has also provided a sketch plan on the reverse of the proforma, in order to illustrate the specific measurements listed in response to requisition 4.

 In undertaking this dimension survey the Ordnance Survey surveyor has noted the specific features which were identified during the survey as being the ground indications of the points A-H listed in the requisition.  In this regard the identification of two pieces of scaffolding pole ‘hammered into the ground’ as marking points C and G simply indicates what the surveyor has concluded as the best interpretation of what others have used to define these two points - not that uncommon on land which is under development.

As a specially requisitioned survey from Registers of Scotland, this specified dimension survey would not have formed part of the normal revision of the Ordnance Survey large scales map of the area, though any relevant changes to the Ordnance Survey map specification identified by this survey would have been incorporated in the Ordnance Survey map at that time.

Ordnance Survey does not undertake "historic mapping" per se, but records what is present on the ground at the time of a particular revision survey. 

Ordnance Survey does undertake special surveys for Registers of Scotland to support the land registration process.  These are limited to checking and if necessary revising the relevant Ordnance Survey large scales plan covering a specific "case", and in providing such additional factual topographic information as the Registers may request.
Please note that your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. As all requested information has been provided, we have determined that in all the circumstances of this case the Public interest consideration  (section 17 FOIA) is not applicable in this instance.

If you are unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to our Appeals Officer at:

FOI Appeals Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
SOUTHAMPTON
SO16 0AS

Please include the reference number below. The Appeals Officer will ensure that the process has been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the original response and recommending disclosure of additional information if appropriate.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Reference number: FOI11136/February 2011