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Information Commissioner's Office
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Information Commissioner's Office >> Cornwall Council (Local government) [2018] UKICO fs50693766 (26 April 2018)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKICO/2018/fs50693766.html
Cite as: [2018] UKICO fs50693766
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Cornwall Council
The complainant has requested information about refuse and recycling collections in Cornwall against individual addresses and in a specific format. The Council initially provided unique property reference numbers (UPRNs), a link to its rubbish, recycling and waste webpage and waste depot dates. However the Council withheld specific addresses associated with the UPRNs under section 21 of the FOIA (information reasonably accessible by other means), as these could be obtained from Ordnance Survey (OS). The Council also applied section 43 of the FOIA (commercial interests exemption). The Commissioner asked the Council to review its response under the EIR and the Council then maintained it was commercial information under regulation 12(5)(e) and it was not in the public interest to release it. The Council also maintained that it did not hold the collection database as it said that this information was held by a contractor. The Commissioner’s decision is that Cornwall Council has not provided sufficient evidence to support the engagement of Regulation 12(5)(e). She also finds that the Council does hold information about what type of refuse is collected from individual addresses and when, and breached regulation 3 by not supplying it to the complainant. She also finds that the Council has breached regulation 6 by failing to supply the information in the format requested, or explaining to the complainant why this cannot be done. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: disclose the withheld information to which Regulation 12(5)(e) has been applied; disclose the collection data about what type of refuse is collected and when, from individual addresses, as used by the Council to update its own website; and under Regulation 9 (advice and assistance), provide the complainant with details of the exact format the collection data is held by Council to ascertain if this meets his requirements or can be reasonably formatted to do so. The public authority must take these steps 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 6: Complaint upheld EIR 12(5)(e): Complaint upheld EIR 3: Complaint upheld
Decision notice: fs50693766