Complaint against Chichester District Council
UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Section 50)
UK Environmental Information Regulations 2004
5 February 2010 The complainant requested access, free of charge, to the land charges register and to records containing the information necessary to answer questions on the CON29R form.
8 February 2010 The Council responded to this request and outlined the charges that be levied to allow the complainant to conduct a personal search of the Local Land Charges Register.
8 March 2010 The complainant submitted a written request for an internal review of this decision to the Council.
10 March 2010 The Council acknowledged the request for an internal review.
16 April 2010 The complainant wrote to the Council to enquire when a response would be received.
30 April 2010 The Council wrote to the complainant and upheld its original response.
20 May 2010 The complainant submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office.
10 June 2010 The Information Commissioners Office wrote to the Council and drew the Council’s attention to the decision notice FER0236058, and the subsequent Information Tribunal decision, East Riding of Yorkshire Council v Information Commissioner (EA/2009/0069), which had dealt with a similar request for access to building control information.
9 July 2010 The Council provided the Commissioner with a submission in support of its position.
12 July 2010 The Commissioner wrote to the Council to enquire if it wished to apply regulation 6(1)(a) to the requested information. This regulation provides that a public authority will not have to provide information in an applicant’s preferred form or format where it is reasonable to provide information in another form or format.
20 July 2010 The Council confirmed that it relied on regulation 6(1)(a).
26 July 2010 The Information Commissioners Office issues the decision notice.
3 August 2010 The Information Commissioners Office publishes the decision notice.
Elapsed time = 217 days
Summary (Copied from the Decision Notice Reference: FER0314876. Date: 26 July 2010)
“The complainant submitted a request to Chichester District Council (‘the Council’) for information from environmental records held on a property in Chichester. The complainant specified that he wished to view the records in person. The Council agreed to provide the information requested but only on the provision of a set fee. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council failed to comply with regulation 5(1) as it failed to make information available on request and regulation 5(2) as it failed to make it available within the statutory time for compliance. The Council breached regulation 6(1) by failing to comply with the complainant’s request to make the requested information available in a particular format. The Council has also breached regulation 8(2)(b) by attempting to impose a charge for allowing the complainant to inspect some of the requested information. The Commissioner requires the Council to make the requested information available for the complainant to inspect within 35 days of this notice.”
Information Commissioners Office
Reference:
Complaint against City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Complaint against East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Complaint against Kirklees Council
Complaint against Stoke City Council
Complaint against Walsall Council
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Case last updated: 4 August 2010
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