Shropshire Council

The complainant requested information from Shropshire Council (“the Council”) regarding a highways project to create a new access from a privately owned property onto the public highway. The Council made a partial disclosure, and initially considered the remaining information was exempt from disclosure under Section 12(1) (cost of compliance) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the Council amended its position relying on the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and cited Regulation 12(4)(b) (manifestly unreasonable) to the withheld information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the complainant’s request can be categorised as manifestly unreasonable under regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR, by virtue of cost, and the public interest favours maintaining this exception, and that the Council provided adequate advice and assistance under regulation 9 of the EIR. However, the Council failed to comply with the request within 20 working days, which is a breach of regulation 5(2) of the EIR, and it also breached Regulation 11(4) of the EIR as it failed to provide an internal review within 40 working days. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any further steps.