The complainant has requested a copy of a report of local housing needs. The Commissioner’s decision is that Great Waldingfield Parish Council incorrectly withheld the sections named ‘Executive Summary and Key Findings’ and ‘Next Steps of the report on the basis of regulations 12(5)(e) and 12(5)(f); however it correctly engaged regulation 12(5)(e) to withhold the remainder of the withheld information. Furthermore, the council did not comply with the requirements of regulation 11(4) because it provided an internal review later than the statutory time period of 40 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: disclose the sections of the Great Waldingfield Housing Survey report which are named ‘Executive Summary and Key Findings’ and ‘Next Steps. The public authority must take these steps within 35 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 Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.
EIR 11(4): Complaint upheld EIR 12(5)(e): Complaint partly upheld EIR 12(5)(f): Complaint partly upheld
Citations:
[2020] UKICO IC-40449
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 22 August 2022; Ref: scu.657836