Wiltshire Council

The complainant submitted two requests to Wiltshire Council (the Council) for information about ‘Roundhouse Farm’, a sand and gravel quarry. The first request was submitted in July 2012 and the second in January 2013. The Council initially responded to the request of July 2012. However, when processing the request of January 2013, the Council determined that both requests were manifestly unreasonable and thus were being refused on the basis of the exception provided by regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is not entitled to rely on regulation 12(4)(b) to refuse either request. The Commissioner requires the public authority to issue a fresh response to the request of 28 January 2013 (Council’s reference RFI 5019) without relying on 12(4)(b) of the EIR.