Information Commissioner's Office

Halton Borough Council

16 September 2015, Local government (Borough council)

The complainant has requested a summary of the financing for the Merseygateway project year by year. He provided the council with figures (in the form of a table) which he had obtained from the council previously and asked the council to complete 2 fields entitled ‘Toll Income’ and ‘Surplus to Council’. The council completed the fields and disclosed the information to the complainant. The complainant however wrote back to the council and said that the disclosed figures did not match with the figures he had obtained from the council previously in response to an earlier request. The council gave a brief response explaining that the difference was made up of the cost of the discount scheme, other project costs and service subsidy. It did not however provide any further information to demonstrate this. The complainant therefore argues that the council has failed to provide him with the information which he asked for. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on an objective reading of the request, the council has complied with the requirements of the Regulations in that it provided the complainant with the information which he had requested. The Commissioner does not require the council to take any steps. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.

FOI 1: Not upheld