Information Commissioner's Office

Bath and North East Somerset Council

24 September 2014, Local government (District council)

The complainant has requested planning and building information about his neighbour’s property. Bath & North East Somerset Council (the council) provided the complainant with some information and a link to its planning portal. It refused to provide some of the information relying on section 40(2) of the FOIA. The withheld information being the building control file, as it considered it to be third party data. Following an internal review, the complainant was later provided with his own data under the Data Protection Act (1998) and some further information. The complainant has advised the Commissioner that he is not satisfied that the council has not provided him with the withheld information, and considers that further information is held by the council. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council has correctly relied on section 40(2) of the FOIA to withhold the building control file and is satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, there is no further information held by the council. However the Commissioner has found that the council has breached section 10 of the FOIA, as it did not provide all of the information the complainant was entitled to within the required 20 working days from the receipt of the request. As the complainant has now been provided with all the information he is entitled to with regards to this request, the Commissioner does not require the council to take any steps.

FOI 10: Upheld FOI 40: Not upheld