Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

The complainant requested information relating to a complaint he had made in connection with a specified planning application. Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Council (the ‘Council’) initially handled this request under the EIR and said that the requested information was excepted under Regulation 12(4)(e) - (the request involves the disclosure of internal communications). At the internal review stage, the Council revised its position and said that no information was held in scope of the request. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Council again reconsidered its handling of the complainant’s request and determined that it should have been handled under FOIA. It said that section 40(1) applied (personal information of the applicant) because the complainant was seeking his own personal information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was entitled to apply section 40(1) of FOIA to refuse the request. The Commissioner does not require the Council to take any steps as a result of this decision.