Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

The complainant has requested reports related to a planning application related to Highthorn Surface Mine. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (“MHCLG”). MHCLG disclosed some information but withheld the remainder citing regulation 12(3) (by virtue of regulation 13) and regulation 12(4)(e) as its basis for doing so. It upheld this at internal review. The Commissioner’s decision is that MHCLG cannot rely on either of these exemptions in relation to a portion of the information referred to in the Confidential Annex to this notice. It can rely on both regulation 12(3) (by virtue of regulation 13) and regulation 12(4)(e) in respect of the rest of the information caught by the scope of this request which remains withheld.  The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Disclose the information identified in the Confidential Annex to this notice. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.