The complainant made two sets of requests to the Queen’s College for information principally relating to the proposed sale of land at Keresley, which formed part of larger plans for a residential development. The public authority responded by stating that, for most parts of the request, it did not hold recorded information. Where any information did exist, though, the public authority claimed that this was commercially sensitive and so would not be released. As part of his investigation, the Commissioner has asked the public authority to clarify the particular access-regime it was considering the requests under and to identify the specific exemption or exception that it was relying on in order to withhold requested information. The Commissioner has determined that the public authority correctly cited regulation 12(4)(d) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) to some of the requested information. However, the Commissioner has found that the public authority failed to support its application of regulations 12(4)(b) and 12(5)(e) of the EIR and sections 21 and 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to other parts of the information it holds. He therefore requires the disclosure of this information. Furthermore, the Commissioner considers that the public authority breached regulations 5 and 14 of the EIR and sections 1 and 17 of the Act.
Section of Act/EIR and Finding: FOI 10 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 21 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 43 – Complaint Upheld, EIR 5 – Complaint Upheld, EIR 5 – Complaint Upheld, EIR 12.4.b – Complaint Upheld, EIR 12.4.d – Complaint Partly Upheld, EIR 12.5.e – Complaint Upheld, EIR 14 – Complaint Upheld, EIR 14 – Complaint Upheld, EIR 14 – Complaint Upheld, EIR 14 – Complaint Upheld
Citations:
[2011] UKICO FER0322910
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 25 March 2022; Ref: scu.530781
