Natural England

The complainant has requested information about a decision to re-route a section of the coastal path. Natural England disclosed some information and said that it was not required to disclose the remainder, by virtue of regulations 12(5)(d) (confidentiality of proceedings), regulation 12(5)(f) (interests of the person providing the information) and regulation 12(4)(a) (information not held) of the EIR. The Commissioner’s decision is that Natural England was entitled to rely on regulations 12(5)(d) and (f) of the EIR to withhold the information from disclosure. She finds that, on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities, Natural England does not hold notes of the meetings referred to in its response to the request, and therefore that regulation 12(4)(a) was also applied correctly. However, she is not satisfied that Natural England complied fully with the requirements of regulation 11(3) of the EIR when conducting the internal review. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2020/0294 appeal dismissed.