West Sussex County Council
- Date 15 May 2013
- Sector Local government
- Decision(s) EIR 12.4.e: Upheld, EIR 12.5.b: Not upheld, EIR 13: Not upheld
The complainant requested information from West Sussex County Council (“the council”) relating to rights of way issues. The council withheld some information using regulation 12(4)(e), 12(5)(b) and 13(1) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (“the EIR”). The complainant did not accept that the information had been correctly withheld. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council correctly withheld information using regulation 13(1) and 12(5)(b) of the EIR, however it incorrectly withheld information that it sought to withhold using regulation 12(4)(e) only. The Commissioner therefore found a breach of the council’s duties to make environmental information available within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the information that it sought to withhold using regulation 12(4)(e) only, specifically:- The email labelled “H” dated 6 February 2009 and the email labelled “L” dated 15 July 2009.