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Newry, Mourne and Down District Council

  • Date 10 January 2025
  • Sector Local government
  • Decision(s) EIR 11.4: Upheld, EIR 12.5.e: Upheld

The complainant requested from Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (the Council) information regarding Forest Park Car Park Charges report. The Council withheld information to part 1 of the request and cited regulation 12(5)(e) (commercial or industrial information) of the EIR.
The Commissioner’s decision is that regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR is engaged, but the public interest in maintaining the exception is not sufficiently strong to overcome the presumption in favour of disclosure at regulation 12(2) of the EIR. The Commissioner also finds that the Council breached regulation 11(4) of the EIR by failing to provide the internal review within 40 working days.
The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.
• Disclose the withheld information.
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 FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.