Summary: The complainant requested various items of information in respect of a 250 year lease granted at the Celtic Marine site. The City and County of Swansea Council (the -˜Council-™) provided some information but withheld the remainder in reliance on section 43(2) of the FOIA. Following the Commissioner-™s intervention, the Council subsequently considered the request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (-˜the EIR-™) and withheld the information under regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR. The Commissioner-™s decision is that the Council has correctly relied on regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR. However, the Council-™s failure to fully comply with the request within the appropriate timescales represents a breach of regulation 5(2) of the EIR and its failure to provide all information in respect of request one, represents a breach of regulation 5(1) of the EIR. The Commissioner requires the public authority to directly provide all information relevant to question three of request one to the complainant.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 12 - Complaint Not upheld