Information Commissioner's Office

Lambeth London Borough Council

4 December 2017, Local government (Borough council)

The complainant has requested correspondence and information relating to the Carnegie Community Trust and the Carnegie Library, Herne Hill from the London Borough of Lambeth (“the Council”). The Council refused to provide any information and applied the exception at regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR – manifestly unreasonable on grounds of cost. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has failed to demonstrate that complying with the request would be manifestly unreasonable in all the circumstances of the case. In addition, the Council has breached regulation 14(2) of the EIR since it did not provide a refusal notice to the complainant within the statutory timeframe of 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: with regard to requests 1 and 2, issue a fresh response to the complainant which does not rely on regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR, and with regard to request 3, issue a fresh response in accordance with the EIR.

EIR 12(4)(b): Upheld EIR 14(2): Upheld