Cambridgeshire County Council

The complainant contacted the Council to ask it to release copies of all correspondence between its solicitors and the contractor’s solicitors relating to Busway scheme. The Council responded refusing to disclose the information under regulation 12(5)(b) of the EIR. As the complainant remained dissatisfied, he approached the Commissioner. During the Commissioner’s investigation it was established that the majority of the information requested was “without prejudice” correspondence relating to an ongoing dispute between the two parties. The complainant accepted that regulation 12(5)(b) of the EIR applied to this information and withdrew this element of his complaint. A small amount of other correspondence between the two parties’ solicitor is held by the Council which does not fall within the definition of “without prejudice” correspondence. The Commissioner considered the application of regulations 12(5)(b) and 12(5)(e) to this information and concluded that neither applied. He has therefore ordered the Council to release this information to the complainant within 35 days of this notice.