Stafford Borough Council

The complainant requested a copy of all recordings that had been taken in respect of a neighbourhood dispute regarding a complaint about alleged excessive noise emanating from his property. The Council considered the request under the EIR and refused to provide the information citing regulation 12(5)(b). It also informed the complainant that in the event that regulation 12(5)(b) was no longer applicable it would need to consider whether it contained any personal information that would be exempt from disclosure under regulation 12(3). The Commissioner finds that regulation 12(5)(b) was engaged at the time of the request and has not therefore gone on to consider regulation 12(3). The Commissioner also recorded a breach of regulation 14(5)(a) and (b) in the way the request was handled.