Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainants asked the Information Commissioner (-�the Commissioner-�) to consider the refusal of Amber Valley Borough Council (-�the Council-�) to provide some information from a file relating to problems concerning drainage from a particular area of land. The Council refused to provide this information initially using the exception under regulation 12(4)(b) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (-�the EIR-�). When the Commissioner advised that he did not consider that 12(4)(b) was engaged, the Council issued a new refusal citing the exceptions under regulations 13(1), 12(4)(e), and 12(5)(b) of the EIR. The Council also accepted that some of the information was the personal data of the complainant and should have been handled as a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998 (-�the DPA-�). The Commissioner investigated and found that regulation 13(1) was engaged in relation to some of the withheld information but that it had been incorrectly applied to other information. He also found that regulation 12(5)(b) was engaged and that the public interest did not favour disclosure. The Commissioner did not find it necessary to consider the application of regulation 12(4)(e). He found breaches of regulation 5(1), 5(2), 14(2) and 14(3) of the EIR and requires the Council to disclose the information that was incorrectly withheld using regulation 13(1) within 35 days. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2011/0102 withdrawn.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 12.4.b - Complaint Upheld, EIR 12.5.b - Complaint Not upheld, EIR 13 - Complaint Partly Upheld, EIR 14 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 14 - Complaint Upheld