Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

The complainant made a request for information to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (“the Council”) for a copy of a viability study concerning the provision of affordable housing at Ingleborough Road, Birkenhead which was subject to a planning application by Tranmere Rovers Football Club. The Council issued an initial response when it said that the complexity and volume of the information requested meant that it was impracticable to comply with the request or make a decision to refuse to do so. Therefore, in accordance with regulation 7(1) the Council extended the deadline to respond to the request to 40 working days. The Council refused to comply with the request or issue a refusal notice within 40 working days. Despite being reminded to do so by the Commissioner the Council has still failed to respond to the request at the time of writing. Therefore the Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has breached regulation 7(1) of the EIR. The Commissioner requires the public authority to comply with regulation 5(1) of the EIR by disclosing the requested information to the complainant or else issue a valid refusal notice in accordance with regulation 14.