Durham County Council
- Date 27 March 2025
- Sector Local government
- Decision(s) EIR 13.5.a: Not upheld, FOI 40(5B)(a)(i): Not upheld, FOI 17(1): Upheld
The complainant requested information relating to complaints about residents at a specific property. Durham County Council (the “Council”) refused to confirm or deny whether the information was held, citing the exception in regulation 13(5)(a) of the EIR. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council correctly relied on regulation 13(5)(a) of the EIR to refuse to confirm or deny whether it held the requested environmental information and, in relation to non-environmental information, that it should have relied on section 40(5B)(a)(i) of the FOIA to refuse to confirm or deny whether any information was held; the Commissioner has decided to apply this exemption himself proactively; the Commissioner also finds that the Council breached section 17(1) as it failed to issue a refusal notice within the statutory 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require further steps.