Complaint against Maldon District Council

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Posted by ChrisCorbin on 04 Aug 2010

Legal basis

Freedom of Information Act 2000
Environmental Information Regulations 2004

Key dates of the case

28.01.09 The Complainant submits via email a request to Maldon District Council to inspect building control records.
28.01.09 The Maldon District Council replies via email to state that charges apply to access the information requested.
28.01.09 The Complainant replies via email to state that the information falls within the scope of the Environmental Information Regulations and that charges should not be applied.
29.01.09 The Council replies via email to state that charges do apply under The Local Authorities (England) (Charges for Property Searches) Regulations 2008.
5.03.09 The Council sends a letter to the Complainant justifying the Councils position.
20.03.09 The Council sends a letter to the Complainant again justifying the Councils position
22.03.09 The Complainant registers a complaint about the Council position to the Information Commissioners Office.
3.08.09 The Information Commissioners Office wrote a letter to the Council and supplied the Council with Commissioners Decision notices FER0236058 and FER0240911 and asked the Council to reconsider the Council position.
5.08.09 The Council wrote to the Information Commissioner’s Office and stating that they refused to change the Council position as the information requested by the Complainant was not environmental.
26.10.09 Information Commissioner publishes decision notice on the ICO December Decision notices web page.

Elapsed time of case = 271 days

Online decisions and public reporting

Information Commissioners Office – October 2009 Decisions

Outline of Case

Summary (Copied from the Decision Notice Reference: FER0240239)

The complainant made a request to inspect the building control information in relation to two named addresses. The Council agreed to provide the information requested but only on the provision of a fee based on the property search regulations. The Council argued that it was allowed to charge for the information under regulation 8(1) as the information was not in a public register and could not be inspected without further collation by the Council. The Commissioner has investigated and found that the request is a request to inspect environmental information but that the Council cannot charge for the information by virtue of regulation 8(2)(b). The Council must make the information available for inspection in accordance with regulation 5(1) within 35 calendar days of this notice.

Case Notes

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