Stoke-on-Trent City Council
- Date 9 October 2023
- Sector Local government
- Decision(s) EIR 12.4.e: Not upheld, EIR 12.5.e: Not upheld, EIR 13.1: Not upheld
The complainant requested a specified “due diligence” report connected to a proposed development site at Spode. Stoke-on-Trent City Council (the ‘Council’) ultimately disclosed the report with parts of it redacted under the following EIR exceptions:
• Regulation 12(4)(e) – the disclosure of internal communications
• Regulation 12(5)(e) – the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information
• Regulation 12(5)(f) – the interests of the person who provided the information
• Regulation 13 – personal data
During the Commissioner’s investigation, the Council disclosed the names of two individuals named in the report. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has properly relied on Regulations 12(4)(e), 12(5)(e) and 13(1) of the EIR to withhold the remaining redactions within the disclosed report. Given that Regulation 12(5)(f) has been cited in addition to Regulation 12(5)(e) (and in some cases to both Regulations 12(5)(e) and 13(1)) for some parts of the report, the Commissioner has not deemed it necessary to consider the Council’s application of Regulation 12(5)(f). No steps are required as a result of this notice.
Keywords/themes: Levelling up policy