London Borough of Waltham Forest

The complainant requested, from the London Borough of Waltham Forest (the council), information about a proposal to build a secure children’s home. The council has refused the request on the basis of regulation 12(4)(c) of the EIR (request for information is formulated in too general a manner). However, it has also confirmed holding relevant information, and refused to disclose it, on the basis of regulations 12(4)(d) (material still in the course of completion, unfinished documents or incomplete data), 12(5)(d) (confidentiality of proceedings) and 12(5)(f) (interests of the person who provided the information). The Commissioner’s decision is that the council wasn’t entitled to cite regulation 12(4)(c); however regulation 12(5)(d) is engaged, and the public interest favours maintaining that exception. The Commissioner finds breaches of regulations 7(3) (extension of time) and 14(2) (refusal to disclose information). The Commissioner doesn’t require any steps.