Brighton and Hove City Council

The complainant requested information from Brighton and Hove City Council (“the Council”) relating to the Valley Gardens bus gates. The Commissioner’s decision is that with the exception of information located by the Council during the course of his investigation, on the balance of probabilities the Council does not hold further information within the scope of the request. He also finds the Council breached section 10(1) (time for compliance) by failing to respond to the request within the statutory timeframe of 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. The Council must either disclose the information located during the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, or issue an appropriate refusal notice which complies with FOIA. The Council must take these steps within 30 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.