Information Commissioner's Office

Nottingham City Council

27 July 2015, Local government (City council)

The complainant has requested a copy of an agreement between Nottingham City Council and Nottingham Forest Football Club in the Community regarding the operation of a sports zone. Nottingham City Council disclosed some information but withheld other information under the exception for adverse affect to the confidentiality of commercial information (regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR. The Commissioner’s decision is that Nottingham City Council: wrongly handled the request under the FOIA and breached regulation 5(1) and regulation 14 and failed to demonstrate that the exception in regulation 12(5)(e) was engaged. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the information withheld under regulation 12(5)(e). The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

EIR 5(1): Upheld EIR 14: Upheld EIR 12(5)(e): Upheld