Department of the Environment Northern Ireland

The complainant has requested copies of all correspondence and communications within the Planning Service (an agency of the DOE) together with other information regarding a specific planning application. The DOE refused part of the complainant’s request, citing regulations 12(4)(d) and 12(5)(b) as a basis for non-disclosure. The complainant indicated his dissatisfaction with this and requested an internal review of the DOE’s decision, which to date the DOE has not conducted. The Information Commissioner’s decision is that the DOE has failed to comply with the requirements of regulations 11(3) and 11(4) of the EIR in that it failed to consider the complainant’s representations and notify him of its decision. The Information Commissioner (“the Commissioner”) requires the HPA to conduct an internal review of the complainant’s request which meets the requirements of the EIR.