North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA)

The complainant requested information from North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA), which is now part of North East Combined Authority (NECA), regarding a brownfield housing fund. NECA has withheld one document within the scope of part one of the request under regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR (confidentiality of commercial information). It has also redacted some information from an email within the scope of part one of the request, the initial application email, under regulation 13 of the EIR (personal data). NECA’s position is that it has now disclosed all of the information it holds within the scope of part two of the request; the complainant disputes this. The Commissioner’s decision is that: NECA is entitled to withhold some, but not all, of the information it has withheld under regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR on this basis; on the balance of probabilities, NECA does not hold any further information within the scope of part two of the request; NECA is entitled to withhold some, but not all, of the information it has redacted from the initial application email under regulation 13 of the EIR. The Commissioner requires NECA to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: disclose pages one and two of the contract sum analysis document which it had withheld under regulation 12(5)(e); disclose the domain names for each of the email addresses it redacted from the initial application email; disclose the name and job title of the sender of the initial application email.