East Riding of Yorkshire Council

The complainant requested information from East Riding of Yorkshire Council (“the council”) relating to his property and a complaint about his hedge. The majority of the information was considered to be the complainant’s personal data and has therefore been considered separately as a subject access request in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (“the DPA”). The outstanding information for consideration under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA”) is the name and contact details of the person who made the complaint about the complainant’s hedge. That information was withheld by the council using section 40(2) of the FOIA, the exemption relating to third party personal data. The Commissioner’s decision is that that the information was exempt under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA”) and was therefore correctly withheld. The Commissioner does not require any steps to be taken.