Complaint against New Forest District Council

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Posted by ChrisCorbin on 18 Aug 2010

Legal basis

UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Section 50)

UK Environmental Information Regulations 2004

Key dates of the case

5 February 2010 The Complainant submitted a request to the Council to access free of charge information required to complete a compliant CON29 form.

10 February 2010 The Council responded to the Complainant to state that a charge would be levied.

11 February 2010 The Complainant wrote to the Council requesting an internal review.

7 April 2010 The Council wrote to the Complainant providing the outcome of the internal review that stated the Council’s position was as that of the 10 February 2010.

10 April 2010 The Complainant submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office.

27 May 2010 The Information Commissioners Office wrote to the Council and explained the relevance of the EIR. The Council was also informed of other relevant Decision notices and the decision of the Information Tribunal.

23 June 2010 The Council wrote to the Information Commissioners Office setting out the Councils position regarding charges for access to the information.

25 June 2010 The Information Commissioners Office wrote to the Council acknowledging receipt of the Councils position and asked for further information.

28 June 2010 The Council wrote to the Information Commissioners Office and provided the information requested.

13 July 2010 The Information Commissioners Office wrote to the Council requesting further information for clarification.

14 July 2010 The Council responded to the Information Commissioners Office and provided the information requested.

30 July 2010 The Information Commissioners Office wrote to the Council asking whether it wished to review its position.

3 August 2010 The Council wrote to the Information Commissioners Office stating that the Council was digesting the impact of the new Amendment.

11 August 2010 The Information Commissioner issues the Decision notice.

20 August 2010 The Information Commissioners Office publishes the Decision notice.

Elapsed time = 187 days

Outline of Case

Summary (Copied from the Decision Notice Reference: FER0308439. Date: 11 August 2010)

The complainant submitted a request to New Forest District Council (‘the Council’) for information from environmental records held on a property in Lyndhurst. The complainant specified that he wished to view the records in person. The Council agreed to provide some of the information requested, but stated that the complainant could not inspect other information. As an alternative, the Council offered to provide a report containing the relevant information for a set fee. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council breached 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 Commissioner found that the Council breached regulation 6(1) by failing to comply with the complainant’s request to receive the requested information in a particular format. In addition, the Commissioner found that the Council breached regulation 8(2)(b) by attempting to impose a charge for allowing the complainant to inspect 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.

Case Notes

New Forest District Council

Information Commissioners Office

Reference:

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