Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) give people a right of access to information held by public bodies, including Cheltenham Borough Council, unless that information is subject to any of the exemptions specified by law.

Freedom of Information Publication Scheme

This council has adopted the model publication scheme prepared and approved by the Information Commissioner. To minimise the need for specific information requests, we make as much information as possible available on our website. Any material which is published and accessed on the website will be available free of charge. The council's publication scheme is called 'Council and democracy - about the council'.

How to make an FOI request

Freedom of information (FOI) requests must be made in writing. Please submit your request by using our online FOI platform.

Submit a freedom of information request

When making a request, please give as much detail as possible to help us deal with the request quickly and efficiently. On receiving a request, we have a duty to inform you whether we hold the information, and to provide a copy within 20 working days.

If we need clarification to help deal with the request, the 20 working day time limit will stop until clarification is received. If clarification is not received by the council within three months, we will assume you no longer require the information. After the three months, the council will be under no obligation to comply with the request.

Information already released can be found in the council's disclosure log or on our open data pages.

Need additional support submitting an FOI or having issues with the FOI platform?

Requests can be emailed to FOI@cheltenham.gov.uk or posted to the Information Governance Officer, Cheltenham Borough Council, Promenade, Cheltenham Gloucestershire, GL50 9SA.

If you require any assistance in submitting an FOI, please email the information governance officers at FOI@cheltenham.gov.uk or call 01242 262626.

Environmental Information Regulations

Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) cover a wide variety of environmental information including:

air, water, soil, land, flora and fauna (including human beings), diversity, genetically modified organisms
information on emissions and discharges, noise, energy, radiation, waste and other such substances
measures and activities such as policies, legislation, plans, and agreements
reports, cost benefit and economic analyses
the state of human health and safety, contamination of the food chain
cultural sites and built structures (as they may be affected by environmental factors)

You can submit a request under the Environmental Information Regulations in the same way you would for a Freedom of Information request. You can also make verbal requests under EIR .

Once you have submitted a request, we must respond as soon as possible. We have 20 working days to complete your request although we can extend this to 40 working days for complex cases.

There are some important differences between requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations. For further information on this please see the EIR pages on the Information Commissioner's website.

FOI and EIR exemptions

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act exemptions

The FOI Act enables people to request specific information held by public bodies, but there are also a number cases where information may not be disclosed which are called exemptions. The two main types of exemptions that apply to information held by Cheltenham Borough Council are:

Qualified exemptions

These are where information must be disclosed unless it can be argued that the public interest in withholding it is greater than the public interest in releasing it. This applies to:

Information intended for future publication
Investigations and proceedings conducted by us
Law enforcement
Health and safety
Environmental information
Legal professional privilege
Commercial interests
Where disclosure would be prejudicial to the effective conduct of the Council's affairs.

Absolute exemptions

These are where the information will not be disclosed, including:

Information accessible to the applicant by other means
Court records and other similar documentation
Personal information
Information provided in confidence by a third party where disclosure would give rise to an actionable breach of confidence

For further information about qualified and absolute exemptions see the Information Commissioner's website.

Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) exceptions

Information can be withheld if it would adversely affect any of the matters below, though most of these are subject to a Public Interest Test to assess whether the public interest in withholding it is greater than the public interest in releasing it:

International relations
Defence and national security
Public safety
The course of justice, including court proceedings within a public authority
Intellectual property rights
Legal confidentiality of any proceedings within a public authority
Commercial confidentiality designed to protect legitimate economic interests
Voluntarily supplied information from people who have not consented to its disclosure
The environment to which the information relates.

Other exceptions (some of which are also subject to a Public Interest Test) include:

Requests that are manifestly unreasonable or too general
Incomplete or unfinished information such as draft reports or other work in progress
Internal communications from within the authority
Personal data

Public interest test

Generally the public interest is served when the disclosure of information would:

Further the understanding of, and the participation in, the debate of issues of the day
Facilitate the accountability and transparency of our decisions
Facilitate accountability and transparency in our spending of public money
Allow individuals to understand decisions made by us that affect their lives and, in some cases, assist individuals in challenging those decisions
Bring to light information affecting public safety.

However, we may withhold information where we think that the public interest will not be served, for instance where we believe that release will discourage openness in expression of opinions.

Charges for information

The council will not charge for information if the cost of locating and collating that information is less than £450. However, we can charge for actual disbursement costs incurred such as photocopying, postage and packaging costs. If the cost is between £450 and £800 the council can ask you to pay the full cost of handling the request.

If we needs to charge for the information, we will send you a fees notice stating how much the cost will be. The 20 working day time limit will stop until the fee is received. If the fee is not paid within three months, the council will be under no obligation to comply with the request.

The fees the council can charge under the act are set out in the Freedom of Information Fees Regulations 2004. Further information on charging is available on the Information Commissioner's website.