Information Commissioner's Office

Amber Valley Borough Council

11 July 2017, Local government (Borough council)

The complainant requested the legal advice considered at a meeting of the Planning Committee of Amber Valley Borough Council (“the council”). He also asked some questions relating to the provision of the advice. The council said that all the information requested was exempt under section 42(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA”) although it later confirmed a limited amount of information about the provision of the advice. It said that the public interest did not favour disclosure. During the Commissioner’s investigation, information about the provision of the advice was disclosed with the agreement of the council. The Commissioner’s decision about the remaining request for the legal advice itself is that the request should have been considered under the terms of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (“the EIR”) however the information could be correctly withheld under regulation 12(5)(b) of the EIR. The public interest does not favour disclosure in this case. The Commissioner has found breaches of regulations 14(2) and 14(3) of the EIR. There are no steps to take.

EIR 14(2): Upheld EIR 5(1): Not upheld EIR 14(3): Upheld