Wirral Council
- Date 1 November 2022
- Sector Local government
- Decision(s) FOI 10: Upheld, FOI 17: Upheld, FOI 42: Not upheld
The complainant has requested information from Wirral Borough Council (the Council) relating to the settlement of a legal dispute in connection with the Hoylake golf resort project. The complainant wants to know why the Council paid the developer, Nicklaus Joint Venture Group (NJVG), in settlement. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was correct to rely on section 42(1) of FOIA (the ‘legal professional privilege’ exemption) to withhold the information within scope of the request, but the Council breached sections 10(1) and 17(1) of FOIA because it failed to provide a valid response within 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require the Council to take any steps.