St Peter's Treasure Survey (FOI)

Request

Please may I view file reference D/W/M5/A/4 at Jersey Archive in respect of St Peter's `Treasury Survey'

Response

Infrastructure, Housing and Environment have reviewed file D/W/M5/A/4 as it is currently due to remain closed to the public until 2035.

The documents range in date from 1981 to 2004 and copies of all documents over 30 years old have been provided.

Document one (pdf)

Document two (pdf)

Personal information has been redacted in accordance with Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Parish Treasure Surveys were carried out in the late 1970's to early 1980's and are considered a forerunner to the register of listed buildings which was created in the late 1980's.

It should be noted that only one document refers to the St Peter's Parish Treasure Survey, a letter dated 22 October 1981

The documents under 30 years are exempt from release under Article 33 (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Articles applied

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 33 - Commercial interests 

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest Test

Article 33 is a qualified exemption, and a public interest test should be carried out by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) to determine whether the information should be released.

It is in the public interest to be made aware of matters relating to listed buildings.

However, the release of the building information could potentially disadvantage the owner's ability to retain commercial advantage in any future sale negotiations regarding the listed sites. 

Therefore, we consider that the likely prejudice to the owners, should this information be released, outweighs the argument that the release is in the public interest.