The complainant requested planning and legal correspondence about a retrospective planning application. The Council refused the request under regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR as manifestly unreasonable. The complainant disputed that reliance and raised concerns about the Council’s handling of the request. 
The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was entitled to rely on regulation 12(4)(b) to withhold information in scope of the request and that the public interest favours maintaining the exception. However, the Council breached regulation 14 of the EIR by failing to issue its refusal notice within 20 working days.
The Commissioner does not require the Council to take any steps as a result of this decision.