Freedom of Information

What are the costs?

You may have to pay for information which is already published by the Department, for example, the provision of hard copies of the Planning Service Annual Report and Accounts. You may also have to pay a fee for other information requested. This depends on a number of factors including the volume of material requested.

Responses to enquires under FOI and are not part of our normal business that cost Planning Service less than £600 to process (includes the cost of finding, sorting or editing the material) will normally be provided free of charge. There may be a small charge for disbursements (disbursements may include costs of photocopying, printing, postage, etc).

Planning Service has the right to refuse to respond to a request that is estimated to cost more than £600 to process. However, we may process the request if the cost is greater than £600 and if we do, you will be charged the costs in full.