Last month, Thirsk and Malton MP, submitted an FOI request to the Home Office asking for sight of notes of conversations, documentation, correspondence and meeting minutes between the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence which outline the background to the policy decision to choose Linton-on-Ouse as an appropriate site, the justification for this decision and the alternative sites that were considered.
The response, received this week states:
We are considering your request. Although the FOI Act carries a presumption in favour of disclosure, it provides exemptions which may be used to withhold information in specified circumstances. Some of these exemptions, referred to as ‘qualified’ exemptions, are subject to a public interest test. This test is used to balance the public interest in disclosure against the public interest in favour of withholding the information. The FOI Act allows us to exceed the 20-working day response target where we need to consider the public interest test fully. The information which you have requested is being considered under the exemption in section 35 of the FOI Act, which relates to the formation of government policy. This is a qualified exemption and to consider the public interest test fully we need to extend the 20-working day response period. We now aim to let you have a full response by 29 July.
Unfortunately, this appears to be yet more delay and uncertainty for residents of Linton-on-Ouse. Mr Hollinrake has made clear he will continue to work hard on halting these plans and is attending a meeting in Linton-on-Ouse later today with the Linton Action Working Group.
