Freedom of Information Act 2000

The Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (which cover environmental information eg waste and planning matters) allow you to ask us for any information you think we might hold. Requests for your own data are dealt with under the Data Protection Act.

You do not need to know the differences as we will treat your request for information correctly.

We will:

• Tell you if we hold the information you have requested, except in very limited situations
• Tell you if we think a different authority holds the information
• Offer you advice and assistance if appropriate
• Provide you with the information if we hold it and no exemptions apply.

All requests must be in writing and include your name, an address for correspondence and a description of the information required.

We will generally respond within 20 working days and won't charge for the information unless it is a very large quantity of information (over 50 sheets of hard-copy A4 size paper). Where a fee is charged it will relate to the costs of postage and photocopying (we charge 10p per A4 black and white sheet – more for colour, other size items and faxes).

When information won't be supplied

In certain limited situations we won't supply information where an exemption applies, eg personal information relating to a neighbour. If an exemption applies, we will tell you why.

You may ask for a review of any decision not to supply information and you can appeal further to the Information Commissioner.

Fees

There is no charge for looking at our records on our premises or for sending information electronically where this is possible.

We will only refuse to answer a request on the grounds of cost if it would cost more than £450 (the appropriate limit). This equates to about two and half days of work.

We will only take account of the costs involved in the following activities:

• Determining whether we hold the information requested
• Locating and retrieving the information, or a document which may contain the information
• Extracting the information from a document/documents containing it (including editing).

If a request would cost more than the appropriate limit (£450), we will contact you and advise what information, if any, would be available within the appropriate limit, and discuss with you whether you wish to modify the request to reduce the cost.

If you do not agree with a proposed fee or a refusal on cost grounds you may ask for a internal review.