Somerset County Council

The complainant has requested information relating to a planning application. Somerset County Council (the council) disclosed some of the information to the complainant but withheld the remainder of the information citing regulations 12(5)(b) (the course of justice and inquiries) and 12(3) (personal information) of the EIR as its basis for doing so. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council was correct to rely on regulations 12(5)(b) of the EIR. The Commissioner also considers that the council has failed to comply with its obligations under regulation 5(2) of the EIR as it did not issue a response to the complainant’s request within 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require further steps.