Environmental information requests

What are the Environmental Information Regulations 2004? 

The Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 gives members of the public the right to access environmental information held by Local Authorities. Environmental information requests can be made in writing by either email or letter, or by visiting these offices.

Environmental information covered by the regulations includes the condition of local Air quality, water quality, soil, land and landscaping issues as well as other factors which can affect these elements for example; substances, energy, noise, radiation, waste emissions or waste discharges into the environment.

Fees and charges for environmental information requests

Telford and Wrekin Council cannot make a charge under the EIR 2004 for allowing you:

• access to any public register or lists of environmental information that we may hold
• to examine Environmental Information at our offices during normal office hours (by appointment).

If the information requested would require a significant cost to prepare for inspection, the Information Commissioners Office published revised guidance in June 2014, allowing the Local Authority to make a reasonable charge for the cost of staff time in identifying, locating and retrieving this information. For all other Environmental information requests, charging is included in Telford and Wrekin's published schedule of charges below. The charges are calculated on a standard rate of £75 per hour based on estimating the staff time taken to:

• determine if the information is held by the local authority
• locate the information
• retrieve the information
• edit or extract the releasable information.

Under the EIR 2004 the actual costs of communicating information released to the applicant are recoverable. This includes the cost of printing, photocopying, postage and/or supplying the information in a particular form i.e. CD ROM. 

Telford and Wrekin's published charges for environmental information requests

All EIR requests are charged on a cost recovery basis at £75 per hour.

All prices indicated are inclusive of VAT.

Please note that if a request is chargeable, we must receive payment together with your query, before the request is processed. 

If whilst carrying out the research it becomes apparent that additional fees might be incurred, we will let you know as soon as we believe it is the case.

Additional guidance on the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 is available on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

How to pay for your environmental information request

Payment for environmental information requests can be made either by cheque or over the phone. If paying by cheque please make it out to Telford & Wrekin Council. To pay over the phone please call 01952 381818.

How long will it take to receive your information?

Once we have received your application, search details and payment, we will aim to respond with a written reply within 20 working days. 

Last updated: 26/01/2024 13:57