Selby District Council

The complainant has made three requests for different items of advice received by Selby District Council (the Council) in connection with the Burn airfield site. The Council has withheld, either in full or in part, information covered by each of the requests. For request 1, the Commissioner has decided that the Council incorrectly relied on regulations 12(5)(e) (confidentiality of commercial or industrial information) and 12(4)(d) (material in the course of completion) of the EIR to withhold the disputed information and therefore the information should be disclosed. For requests 2 and 3, the Commissioner considers the Council correctly applied regulation 12(5)(b) (course of justice) of the EIR and that in all the circumstances the public interest in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the exception. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. In relation to request 1, disclose a copy of the remaining contents of the specified report with the exception of the information that the complainant has confirmed is not required, specifically any personal data of an individual and the references to tenants and details of the tenancy agreements.