East Devon District Council

The complainant has requested evidence used as a basis for comments made in a draft set of minutes which appeared on the council’s website relating to a planning development. The council stated that the draft minutes had been published by mistake and removed the comments from the final minutes, however the complainant still requested the evidence upon which the comments were made. The council stated that no information was held. The Commissioner’s decision is that on a balance of probabilities the council was correct to state that no information is held. He has however decided that the council did not comply with section 10(1) in that its response to the request was not received within 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require the council to take any steps.