South Gloucestershire Council

The complainant has requested from South Gloucestershire Council (‘SGC’) information on the options it had considered for the proposed location and design of a new railway station car park. He also requested copies of communications between SGC and a landowner over the sale of land for the car park. SGC said the information was exempt from disclosure under sections 22 (Information intended for future publication) and 43 (Commercial interests) of FOIA. During the Commissioner’s investigation, SGC reconsidered the request under the EIR and applied regulations 12(4)(d) (Material still in the course of completion) and 12(5)(e) (Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information) to withhold the information. The Commissioner’s decision is that SGC has not demonstrated that it was entitled to rely on either regulation to withhold the requested information. The Commissioner therefore finds that SGC breached Regulation 5(1) of the EIR (Duty to make available environmental information on request). The Commissioner requires SGC to disclose the communications between it and the landowner’s agent (and all associated attachments). In doing so it may redact the names and contact details of non-senior staff and private individuals, in accordance with regulation 13 (Personal data) of the EIR. First-tier tribunal (General Regulatory chamber) information rights appeal EA/2022/0109 allowed.