Information Commissioner's Office

Arun District Council

8 October 2015, Local government (District council)

The complainant has requested information relating to costs expended on Bognor Regis regeneration. Arun District Council provided some summarised information and stated that further information is not held. The Commissioner’s decision is that Arun District Council does, on the balance of probabilities, hold further information and has therefore incorrectly applied the exception at regulation 12(4)(a). He has also decided that the council failed to comply with regulation 11(4) by taking almost 5 months to provide an internal review response. The Commissioner requires the public authority either comply with regulation 5(1) or issue a new refusal notice giving valid grounds for refusal. The public authority must take this step 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 11(4): Upheld EIR 12(4)(a): Upheld