Peter Hope v The Information Commissioner

Facts

Since 2016 Peter Hope has been concerned that development works near his property may have caused flooding damage to his garden, possibly because the developer failed to meet its contractual and planning obligations. He accused Buckinghamshire Council of dishonesty and a lack of transparency. In 2024 he was in correspondence with a Bucks Herald journalist about a possible story. The newspaper had not published one. His request, dated 25 October 2024, sought all correspondence between the journalist and the Council's Press Office, and any related internal Council correspondence, arising from the journalist's enquiry around 4 April 2024 about his email of 3 December 2023 to the Council's chief executive. The Council first refused the request under section 40(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, treating it as a subject access request. It then reclassified the information as environmental information and relied on regulation 5(3) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and on regulation 13(5), neither confirming nor denying that it held the information. It upheld that position on internal review. The Information Commissioner's Decision Notice of 13 November 2025 held that the information was Mr Hope's own personal data and had been properly withheld under regulation 5(3) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. The Commissioner did not consider regulation 13(5). Mr Hope appealed to the First-tier Tribunal, which decided the appeal on the papers after reviewing 12 pages of withheld emails as closed material.