West Devon Borough Council
- Date 11 January 2023
- Sector Local government
- Decision(s) EIR 11.4: Upheld, EIR 12.4.e: Not upheld, EIR 5.2: Upheld
The complainant requested information relating to a specific planning application. West Devon Borough Council (the council) initially refused the request under regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR – manifestly unreasonable. Following a refining of the request, the council provided some information and withheld the remaining information under regulation 12(4)(e) of the EIR – internal communications. The Commissioner’s decision is that regulation 12(4)(e) of the EIR is engaged to the information that has been withheld and the Commissioner is satisfied that the council has located all the information falling within the scope of the complainant’s request. The Commissioner also found that the council breached regulation 5(2) of the EIR as it did not provide all the information that was not exempt from disclosure within the required 20 working days and it breached regulation 11(4) of the EIR as it did not carry out an internal review within the required 40 working days. As all the information that is not exempt has been disclosed, the Commissioner does not require the council to take any steps.