Taunton Deane Borough Council

The complainant has requested the full copy of the financial appraisal supporting statement produced on behalf of developers in support of their planning application for a specific site. The Council which had already published a redacted version of the report, refused to disclose the full report on the basis that the redacted information was exempt under regulations 12(5)(e) – commercial confidentiality, and 12(5)(f) – prejudice of the interest of the person who provided the information. The Commissioner’s decision is that neither exception applies to the all the withheld information, but they do both apply to the same, limited amount of information. However the aggregated public interest in maintaining those exceptions is not greater than the public interest in disclosure. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the Financial Appraisal Supporting Statement in full.