Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested information relating to a planning enforcement file. Following the intervention of the Commissioner, the public authority has now disclosed a large tranche of the requested information to the complainant. This decision relates to the remaining tranche of the requested information, namely a) complaints correspondence; b) legal advice: and c) site photographs taken as part of the public authority's investigation. The Commissioner has decided that a) the public authority has legitimately withheld the identity of the complainants but the Commissioner disagrees with its basis for doing so; b) the public authority has legitimately withheld the legal advice but the Commissioner disagrees with its basis for doing so; and c) the public authority has contravened the requirements of the EIR in withholding the site photographs. The Commissioner has also decided that the public authority's initial response to the complainant's information request did not comply with its obligations under EIR Regulation 14(3)(b) in that it did not provide an explanation of the public interest arguments it had considered in responding to this request.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 14 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 13 - Complaint Upheld