Summary: The complainant requested advice and reports associated with a particular property and its perimeter walls. Whilst the London Borough of Camden (the -˜Council-™) disclosed some information in response to the request, it denied holding any further information. During the Commissioner-™s investigation, the Council revealed that a further document relevant to the request (a -˜preliminary schedule of dilapidations-™) had been identified. The Information Commissioner has concluded that the preliminary schedule of dilapidations is in scope of the request; however, he finds that the Council correctly applied section 42(1) (legal professional privilege) of the FOIA in order to withhold it. He further concludes, on the balance of probabilities that, with the exception of the information which was made available to the complainant, together with the dilapidation schedule, the remainder of the information requested by the complainant was not held by the Council. He also finds that some of the information requested constitutes environmental information and therefore should have been considered under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). The Council also breached regulation 5(2) of the EIR by failing to make available some of the information it held within 20 working days of receipt of the request. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any steps.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 42 - Complaint Not upheld, EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld