Make a Freedom of Information request (FOI)

A Freedom of Information request, is a request for information and records held by the local authorities within the United Kingdom. This is supported by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

As a Council we want to make sure that we are transparent with our local community including residents. 

This allows individuals the right to ask any public sector organisations for information that they hold. Examples of records that may be requested are; policies and documents. You have the right to request these in electronic or print format.

If we are not able to provide you with the records you are looking for, we will try to advise you as best as we can.

Our duty is to respond to your Freedom of Information request within 20 working days. 

If we need more details about your request, or there is a valid reason that we cannot send you the information, we will contact you.

The Environmental Information Regulation 2004 is specific to the activities of public authorities that relate to or affect the environment. You have the right to ask for information listed below similar to the Freedom of Information request.

• air
• water
• land
• the habitats of animals and plants
• emissions
• radiation
• noise and other forms of pollution

For EIR requests, it is our duty is to make sure that we send you the records of information within 20 days but no later than 40 working days. If we need more details about your request, or there is a valid reason that we cannot send you the information, we will contact you.

If you want to submit a request to us, there are a few things that you need to know. 

As a Council we have to;

• provide you with copies of records held
• provide you with advice and assistance to help identify if we have the information you are looking for
• inform you of the progress of your request
• tell you if we will charge you for the request (you will need to pay this fee before we send you the information)
• tell you if there is a reason why we cannot release the information. This is also knows as an exemption

If your request cannot be fulfilled, we will write to you and explain the reasons why. If you are unhappy with this, you can make a complaint to the Council, this will need to be made within 28 days of you receiving the response to your request.

If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received, you can make a complaint to the Council. 

Or if you prefer to write to us, please use the contact details listed below:

If you choose to write to us, please clearly state that your response is a Request for review so that we know.

If after receiving a response to the review, you are still unhappy with the council’s response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.​​

If the records you are seeking from the Council are Schools records you will need to contact the school directly.

We will always try our best to get the information that you have requested, on some occasions there may be a situation where we need to charge you. This might be when;

• information is printed from the council’s website in libraries or in office receptions
• we have to send you information in the post
• there are publications that have a cover price, which we have to charge for