East Devon District Council

The complainant has requested copies of East Devon District Council (EDDC) meeting minutes and progress reports on the subject of relocation. EDDC stated that the information was being withheld on the basis that disclosure would be likely to inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation (section 36(2)(b)(ii)).The Commissioner advised EDDC to reconsider the request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) due to the nature of the information and EDDC applied the regulation 12(4)(e) as it considered all of the information to be internal communications. The Commissioner’s decision is that regulation 12(4)(e) is engaged in relation to the minutes of both working party’s and the public interest favours maintaining the exception. However, he does not consider the exception is engaged in relation to the project reports and he therefore requires these reports to be disclosed. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the project reports.