Lewes District Council

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Freedom Of Information
Lewes District Council
32 High Street
Lewes
East Sussex
BN7 2LX

Tel: 01273 484174
foi@lewes.gov.uk
Minicom 01273 484488

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Freedom of Information

Freedom of InformationFreedom of Information gives everyone a right of access to all "recorded" information held by us, subject to exemptions.

The Freedom of Information Act gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities. It lists exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities. The Act came into force in two stages.

The first stage was in January 2003 when we adopted a Publication Scheme. The second stage came into force in January 2005.

Any person now making a request to a public authority for information must be informed whether the public authority holds that information and supplied with it. This is subject to a number of exemptions listed in the Act.

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Make A Freedom Of Information Request

Make a Freedom Of Information request in the following ways: 

Or if you prefer, you can write to:

The Freedom of Information Officer
Lewes District Council
Lewes House
32 High Street
Lewes
BN7 2LX

Requests

We aim to publish much of our information on this website free of charge. However, our publication scheme sets out all our published information, how it can be obtained and whether or not there is a cost of receiving it.

You may request any information from us and we will tell you whether we hold the information and provide it to you, as long as one of the exemptions does not apply. Normally the information will be provided within 20 working days.

Planning

Please note that Planning applications are exempt from Freedom of Information requests. Under the Town & Country Planning Act the Council is required to make these documents available to the public to view. Copies of documents are available from the Planning Information Office email precep@lewes.gov.uk at our standard copying charges. Our fees and charges are listed at Fees and Charges.  

Planning Enforcement applications are covered by the Environmental Implications Regulations Act which means copies of documents not covered by the Data Protection Act are available to the public but our standard copying charges apply.

Fees & Charges

In most cases requests for information will be free. Where fees do apply, including how they are calculated, are set out on the fees page. Fees payable must be paid in advance. Unpaid fees over 3 months old will lapse and we will not respond.

 

Additional Information Requests

We include as much information in the Publication Scheme as we can. However, if you cannot find what you are looking for you can request information.

Retrospective Requests

The Act is retrospective and information requests can be for information created before the Act came fully into force in 2005. However, where any of the information comes within an exempt category either under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or other relevant legislation, it will be published with the exempt material deleted.

Exemptions

Most information we hold is available to you subject to a number of exemptions. If an exemption applies we will tell you which exemption applies, why and how we took this decision.

Complaints & Appeals

If you are not satisfied with the way we handle your request, including any fees charged or with the reasons we have given for refusing information, you have the right to appeal.