Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information Requests (EIR)
Who can make a request under FOI or EIR?
Anyone, individuals, groups or companies, can make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).
Before making a request:
Check if the information is already published
There is lots of information that the Council already publishes regularly. You can search our website
What information can I request?
You can request any information which is held in any recorded format by the Council or held by its partners on the Council's behalf.
What is the difference between FOI and EIR?
The EIR apply to all information which relates to the environment, in its broadest sense, including land, air, water, soil, buildings, animals and people, pollution of all kinds, waste, health and safety. This also includes reports, measures and analysis of environmental information.
The FOI Act applies to all other information.
What information will NOT be supplied?
There are several exemptions and exceptions under FOI and EIR which define when the Council can refuse to issue information to you. This includes:
- Information about yourself (this should be requested under Data Protection legislation).
- Information about other individuals - this is usually also exempt under Data Protection legislation;
- Information which is already published by the Council or publicly available elsewhere, even if there is a fee for obtaining it;
- Where your request is too vague or broad, so that it would take an unreasonable amount of time and resource for the Council to answer it. In this case, we will contact you to ask you to be more specific or to narrow the request to ask for less information.
If we refuse to supply information to you, we must explain why, quoting one of the exemptions (FOI) or exceptions (EIR).
A full list of exemptions and exceptions is available on the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) website: