Department for Transport

The complainant requested all the relevant recorded information (including communications) that the public authority held about the statutory basis for local user discounts on toll roads. The public authority responded that it believed the costs limit was exceeded. The Commissioner has carefully considered this case and has decided that the information, where held, is likely to be partially environmental. For those elements that are not environmental information he is satisfied that section 12(1) has been applied appropriately by the public authority. This is because all the recorded information could not be located within the costs limit. For those elements that are environmental information he has concluded that the public authority is entitled to rely on the exception found in Regulation 12(4)(b) [the request is manifestly unreasonable] and that the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosure. He has found that appropriate advice and assistance was provided, but there were procedural breaches of section 17(5) of the Act and Regulations 14(1), 14(2) and 14(3) of the EIR. However, he does not find that any remedial steps need to be taken.