Lichfield District Council

The complainant has requested information from Lichfield District Council regarding pre-application planning advice, in respect of some land at Leyfields and Netherstowe. The Commissioner’s decision is that the withheld information is exempt from disclosure on the basis of Regulation 12(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIR and that, whilst the council did not refer to Regulation 12(4)(a) (information not held), on the balance of probabilities, the council does not hold any further information in scope of the request. However, the Commissioner finds that Lichfield District Council breached Regulation 14 of the EIR by failing to provide an adequate refusal notice until the internal review stage, which was outside of the necessary time limit. The Commissioner does not require any steps.