Please supply copies of all the recorded information you hold concerning One Public Estate projects located in Exeter from the past twelve months.
Please see this Devon County Council (DCC) webpage for the relevant information.
Some information has been redacted because it is out of the scope of the request, and some information has been redacted because it is personal information and is therefore exempt under Section 13 of the Environmental Information Regulations (Personal Data). This relates to redactions made in grey. Devon County Council is not obliged to provide information that is the personal information of another person if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018. In this instance we believe that the release of this information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore Section 13 is applied.
Additionally, information has been redacted because Devon County Council and Exeter City Council considers that this information is exempt information under Regulation 12(5)(e) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. This relates to redactions made in black. Exeter City Council have provided the reasons for this as follows:
- The information is commercial in nature. It relates to a commercial activity.
- The information has the necessary quality of confidence. It is not trivial and to the best of our knowledge is not in the public domain. Releasing the information would compromise that confidentiality.
- The confidentiality is protecting a legitimate economic interest. Exeter City Council needs to protect its commercial bargaining position in the context of future negotiations. If the information was to be released, it would harm the Council’s legitimate economic interests.
- As the first three elements of the four-stage test for the exception are fulfilled, the Exeter City Council considers that the confidentiality would be adversely affected by disclosure. Disclosure of this confidential information would harm the confidential nature of the information and would also harm the legitimate interests of the Council.
When considering the public interest test, Exeter City Council considers that there is more weight in the arguments given above for maintaining the exception, than there is in releasing the information. The following public interest factors were considered in favour of disclosure:
- Openness, transparency and accountability
- Informing public debate
- General presumption in favour of disclosing environmental information
Exeter City Council has advised that it will review the information which has been withheld on a quarterly basis to determine whether it can be released. We would advise contacting them directly to ascertain as to when they are able to release further information.