Brighton & Hove City Council

1.    The complainant has requested information from Brighton and Hove City Council (“the Council”) in relation to correspondence about planning matters.  The Council initially withheld the information under sections 36(2)(b)(ii) and 36(2)(c) of FOIA, however it later marked some correspondence within the scope of the request as being able to be disclosed to the complainant.
2.    The Commissioner then found that the withheld information was environmental in nature so the Council re-considered the request under the provisions of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and applied regulations 12(4)(e) - (internal communications) and 12(5)(b) – (course of justice) to some of the requested information (“the withheld information”).
3.    The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has correctly applied regulations 12(4)(e) and 12(5)(b) to part of the complainant’s request.  There is some requested information to which no exception has been applied which the Council has stated can be disclosed.
4.    The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following step:
•    To disclose to the complainant the information which is in scope of the request and is able to be disclosed.
5.    The Council must take these steps within 30 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.