Summary: The Complainant requested all information held by the council relating to planning activities and applications on a particular building from the council. The council provided access to the planning applications which were already in the public domain, however it refused access to further information on the basis that the information it held was exempt under section 40 of the Act (personal data). The Commissioner considered the information and informed the public authority that it was his view that the information should have been considered under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (-˜the regulations-™). The council responded indicating that it did not accept that that was the case and wished to continue to rely upon section 40 under the Act. It added however that in the event that the Commissioner decided that the information was environmental information then it would instead rely upon regulation 13(1). The Commissioner has considered the information. Further to this, he has considered the application of regulation 13(1) to the information. His decision is that the council was not able to rely upon this exception in this case, other than for one small section of information which relates to the personal life of a third party. His decision is therefore that the exception is not engaged other than for that small section of information. Further to this the Commissioner has identified that some of the information is the personal data of the complainant. The Commissioner-™s decision is that this information is exempt under regulation 5(3).
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 5 - Complaint Not upheld, EIR 13 - Complaint Partly Upheld, EIR 14 - Complaint Upheld