Adur & Worthing Council

The complainant has requested information relating to the serving of an Abatement Notice.  Adur and Worthing Councils initially handled the request under the FOIA, disclosing some information and withholding other information under exemptions.  Following the Commissioner’s involvement the public authority reconsidered the request under the EIR, disclosing further information and withholding other information under the exceptions for the course of justice (regulation 12(5)(b)) and personal information (regulation 13(1)).  The Commissioner’s decision is that Adur and Worthing Councils wrongly handled the request under the FOIA and breached regulation 5(1) and regulation 14(1) of the EIR but that it correctly withheld information under regulation 12(5)(b).  The Commissioner does not require the public authority to do anything.