Information Commissioner's Office

Eastleigh Borough Council

27 January 2017, Local government (Borough council)

The complainant has requested copies of correspondence to and from the Council Leader regarding spatial zones in the Issues and Options document published by Eastleigh Borough Council and the Eastleigh Strategic Transport Study Interim Report - Issues and Options December 2015. The Commissioner’s decision is that Eastleigh Borough Council has incorrectly applied the exception at regulation 12(4)(d) to the ‘Eastleigh Strategic Transport Study – Project Scope; June 2015’ but correctly applied that exception to the ‘Eastleigh Strategic Transport Study Interim Report - Issues and Options December 2015’. However, she has decided that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exception at regulation 12(4)(d) does not outweigh the public interest in disclosing the information. The Commissioner has also decided that Eastleigh Borough Council has correctly applied the exception at regulation 12(4)(e) to withheld internal emails and the presentation to Members and that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. With regard to the application of regulation 12(5)(f), the Commissioner has decided that the exception is not engaged in relation to two communications with external third parties. The Commissioner has also decided that Eastleigh Borough Council did not respond to the request within the statutory time limit in breach of regulation 5(2), that it complied with the requirements of regulation 11(5)(a) and 11(5)(b) but was in breach of regulation 11(5)(c). The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the ‘Eastleigh Strategic Transport Study – Project Scope; June 2015’, the ‘Eastleigh Strategic Transport Study Interim Report - Issues and Options December 2015’, and the two communications with external third parties, and to state the time period within which additional training will be offered to officers and members in respect of Eastleigh Borough Council’s duty to respond to requests within the statutory timeframes, to ensure compliance with the legislation.

EIR 12(4)(d): Upheld EIR 12(4)(e): Not upheld EIR 12(5)(f): Upheld