Transport for the North

The complainant requested details of a specific section of the planned Northern Powerhouse Railway. Transport for the North withheld the requested information and relied on Regulation 12(4)(d) of the EIR (material in the course of completion) in order to do so. The Commissioner’s decision is that TfN has correctly relied on Regulation 12(4)(d) to withhold the requested information and that the balance of the public interest favours maintaining the exception. As TfN failed to indicate the date on which it expected the material it was withholding to be completed, it breached Regulation 14 of the EIR. The Commissioner does not require further steps.