Education Update - Estates
Published: 18th December 2009
Disclosure requirements
In South Gloucestershire Council v
Information Commissioner and Bovis Homes Ltd (EA 2009/32), the
Council appealed the Commissioner's decision that information
contained in a number of consultants' appraisals was
environmental information falling within the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/3391) (EIR) and
should be disclosed to the developer (Bovis). The Council appealed
to the Tribunal on the basis that the request for disclosure
engaged the following exceptions in the EIR:
- Regulation 12(4)(3) (internal communications exception).
- Regulation 12(5)(e) (commercial confidentiality exception).
The Tribunal held that:
- The Council was not entitled to treat the appraisals prepared by the consultants as internal communications but allowed the Council's appeal on the basis that the information in the appraisals was confidential, commercial information within regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR.
- The public interest balance weighed in favour of maintaining the exception and that the Council had been lawfully entitled to withhold the requested information.
