In the continuing struggle by personal search companies to gain their legally entitled access to environmental information, the Basildon office of PALI (Property And Land Information) lodged a complaint against Maldon Council for refusing access to Building Control records and charging to provide information contained there in. Jeremy Tyler of the Basildon office complained that Maldon were operating restrictive practices as the information he was requesting access to was environmental and should be available to the public free of charge. The council disputed this and continued to refuse access to the information. Jeremy requested that his complaint be entered into the councils complaints review process. Maldon re-iterated its refusal so Jeremy reported the council to The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) which rules on these matters.
As the ICO had already ruled on two similar cases it was expected that the ruling would be in line with these previous rulings. That is in fact what happened and the ruling was in favour of PALI and against Maldon.
The full report and decision by the ICO can be read on this blog by
clicking here. In summary the decision was that the information requested was environmental and access should be freely available at a point designated for that purpose and within a reasonable time scale.
Nick Small of Pali Ltd Merseyside, The PALI head office said “This is good news for the Personal Search Companies and Home Information Pack ( HIP ) providers, We at PALI are determined to keep our prices as competitive as possible for the benefit of the consumer and our clients. The price rises imposed by the councils since April this year have had the effect of forcing up the cost of searches and Home Information Packs ( Hips )’.
The proposed doubling of the charges to access the Land Charges registers by councils in January will further drive up these cost so it is important that we make a stand against abuses of monopoly positions, restrictive practises, restraint of trade and illegal charges. Various offices of PALI have similar complaints lodged with the ICO currently and are hopeful of similar decisions. These will be reported on this blog as and when they are published.
#ukgovOSS
Comment by nicksnr — October 30, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
#ukgovOSS Way to go Jeremy.
Comment by Stuart Richards — November 2, 2009 @ 11:22 am
It is good news indeed. Not too many councils have relented as yet but I can see the avalanche on its way.
Comment by Tracey Bell — November 2, 2009 @ 11:55 am
Well done Jeremy; what a great result! Good to hear of an outcome in our favour!
Comment by Paul Cummin LLB — November 2, 2009 @ 1:12 pm
As a law student, this is a case of common sense, it is easy to see that the Councils had no chance and the EU law would prevail. Well done to Pali to take a stand and well done to Pali Basildon office for taking the initative to challenge Maldon, I know that many councils are making silly charges.
Comment by David Murray — November 2, 2009 @ 7:41 pm
keep up the fight and we will win the war
Comment by John Mann — November 2, 2009 @ 9:08 pm
Well done, fantastic result. We all need to keep fighting our councils. Hopefully there will be more positive outcomes.
Comment by Tony Smith — November 3, 2009 @ 8:54 am
Well done Jeremy, lets hope it makes others take notice and get everything in order
Comment by Jeanette Leigh — November 3, 2009 @ 9:27 am
Fantastic news Jeremy and Pali Basildon.
Hopefully this will now set a precedent and other Councils will take heed of the regualtions.
Comment by Lisa Marshall — November 3, 2009 @ 1:54 pm
Great result Jeremy,
Comment by Ben Naylor — November 3, 2009 @ 3:58 pm
Well done Jeremy!!!
Comment by Jon Coupland — November 3, 2009 @ 6:56 pm
Wonderful news Jeremy
Comment by Andy Bishop — November 4, 2009 @ 9:06 am
Great result Jeremy. Lets hope that after these decisions, all Councils will now review their procedures and allow free access to the information.