Planning Inspector's Report P/2024/1476

​Request 752351676

Dear FOI Team, 

I am submitting this request under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. 

Please confirm the date on which the Planning Inspector’s report in respect of appeal case P/2024/1476 (Nude Food Dunes, La Route de la Pulente, St. Brelade, JE3 8HG) was, or will be, submitted to the Minister for the Environment. 

If, at the date of this request, the Inspector’s report has not yet been submitted, please confirm this fact. 

For clarity: I am not requesting disclosure of the report or its contents, only confirmation of the administrative date of submission. 

Thank you for your assistance. 

Yours faithfully, 

Response 

Article 115(5) of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 requires the inspector to make a report in writing to the Minister; the Tribunal’s role is to transmit the report from the inspector to the Minister and the law does not provide any discretion to the Tribunal to disclose any information about the report to anyone except the Minister. The information requested is therefore  absolutely exempt under Article 29(a) of the ​Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 because Article 115(5) of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 ​only permits disclosure to the Minister. As allowed by Article 10(2) we decline to confirm if we hold the information requested as, in all the circumstances of the case, it is in the public interest to do so; this is because confirming if we hold the information would disclose information about the delivery of the inspector’s report contrary to Article 115(5) of Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002. 

Once the Minister has made a final decision this will be published along with the associated inspector’s report to the Register of Ministerial Decisions Ministerial Decisions  and where there is an associated planning application the Ministerial Decision and the inspector’s report will be published under that planning application on the Planning Register Planning application search​. The date of the inspector’s report is included in the report itself so once it has been published with the Ministerial Decision the information requested is available publicly. 

Articles applied 

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding  Information 

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if – 

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and 

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly. 

(2) If a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority 

and – 

(a) the information is absolutely exempt information or qualified exempt information; or 

(b) if the authority does not hold the information, the information would be absolutely exempt  information or qualified exempt information if it had held it, the authority may refuse to inform the applicant whether or not it holds the information if it is satisfied that, in all the circumstances of the case, it is in the public interest to do so. 

(3) If a scheduled public authority so refuses – 

(a) it shall be taken for the purpose of this Law to have refused to supply the information requested on the ground that it is absolutely exempt information; and 

(b) it need not inform the applicant of the specific ground upon which it is refusing the request or, if the authority does not hold the information, the specific ground upon which it would have refused the request had it held the information. 

Article 29 - Other prohibitions or restrictions

Information is absolutely exempt information if the disclosure of the information by the scheduled public authority holding it – 

(a) is prohibited by or under an enactment; 

(b) is incompatible with a European Union or an international obligation that applies to Jersey; or 

(c) would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court. ​