Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested access to the Stage 2 Safety Audit Report for a pedestrian crossing scheme, and the Council withheld the report citing regulation 12(4)(d) of the Environment Information Regulations (material still in the course of completion) because it was only one in a series of three reports prepared during the implementation of the crossing scheme. It also argued that premature release of the report was against the public interest because it could compromise public safety. The Commissioner has decided the report was environmental information because the new pedestrian crossing scheme constituted a physical change to the state of the land, and the report itself concerned how this change affected human health and safety. However, he has also decided that as the report related to a distinct stage in the implementation of the crossing scheme and was a separate document, 12(4)(d) was not engaged. The Commissioner also considered whether regulation 12(5)(a) (which relates to public safety) applied, but was not persuaded that early release if the Stage 2 report would compromise the Stage 3 report.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 12.4.d - Complaint Upheld, EIR 12.5.a - Complaint Upheld