London Borough of Ealing

The complainant has requested information contained in two planning applications for properties which share a boundary with their home. London Borough of Ealing (the “Council”) disclosed some information and relied on regulation 13 of the EIR (third party personal information) to withhold other parts of the requested information. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Council additionally sought to rely on regulation 12(5)(d) of the EIR (confidentiality of proceedings) to withhold a part of the requested information. The Commissioner’s decision is that regulation 13 applies to all the withheld information. However, the Council breached regulation 11(4) of the EIR as it did not provide its internal review outcome within 40 working days. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.