Mid and East Antrim Borough Council

The complainant has requested various information about investments made in local areas. Mid and East Antrim Borough Council initially disclosed some of the requested information but refused to comply with the remainder of the request under section 12(1) of FOIA (cost of compliance). It also advised that the some of the requested information was publicly accessible under section 21 (information accessible to applicant by other means). During the course of investigation, the Council explained to the Commissioner that having reviewed its handling of the request, it considered that it should have applied section 12(1) to the request in full. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is entitled to apply section 12(1) to the request in full and has complied with the duty to provide advice and assistance under section 16 of FOIA. The Commissioner does not require further steps but refers the Council to the observations contained in ‘Other matters’.