Mid Devon District Council

The complainant requested information with regards to pre-application advice for a planning matter. Mid Devon District Council (“the council”) refused part of the request as personal data, identified another part as not being a valid request for information, and refused the remaining under regulation 12(4)(a) as information not held. The complainant disputed that the information was not held and the handling of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that regulation 12(4)(a) is engaged to the information the council stated was not held. But he finds that the council breached regulation 14 as it did not issue a valid refusal notice. The Commissioner does not require any steps.