Cotswold District Council

The complainant has requested information from Cotswold District Council (“the Council”) regarding signs in car parks referring to government cuts. The Council refused to provide the requested information, citing section 12 of FOIA – cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was not entitled to rely on section 12(1) when refusing this request.
The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.
• Provide a fresh response to the request, that does not rely on section 12 of FOIA.
The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.