Conwy County Borough Council

The complainant requested information regarding the failed transfer of a particular piece of land which led to the pull out by Tesco in August 2012. Conwy County Borough Council stated that the information requested was exempt under section 43 of the FOIA. In its internal review the Council also stated that some of the information held was exempt under section 40(2) and section 41. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, it became apparent that the Council had not in fact determined exactly what information was held relevant to the request. The Council therefore introduced reliance on sections 12(1) and 14(1) of the FOIA. In addition, the Council accepted that, at least some of the information held was likely to constitute environmental information and as such, it was also relying on regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has correctly applied section 12(1) of the FOIA and regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR to the request. He does not require any steps to be taken. However, the Commissioner finds that the Council failed to provide appropriate advice and assistance to the complainant, and therefore breached section 16 of the FOIA and regulation 9 of the EIR. The Commissioner requires the Council to contact the complainant to provide advice and assistance.