Information Commissioner's Office

Lambeth London Borough Council

14 April 2015, Local government (Borough council)

The complainant requested copies of plans regarding a development site at the garages rear of Wavertree Court, Wavertree Road, London reference 10/04487/FUL. The London Borough of Lambeth (‘the Council’) initially dealt with the request outside of the EIR and a hard copy of the information was made available for the complainant to collect. Following a complaint to the Commissioner that the Council had failed to respond to the request the Commissioner instructed it to issue a formal response under the FOIA or EIR as appropriate. The Council subsequently refused the request under section 21 of the FOIA advising that it had already provided the information and in any event it was reasonably accessible via other means namely the Council’s planning portal. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has incorrectly handled the request under FOIA, however he is satisfied that it has complied with regulation 5(1) of the EIR in making environmental information available on request. The Commissioner does not require the Council to take any steps.

EIR 5: Not upheld