The law and best practice for the renaming of streets and buildings (December 2020) pages 30-31
6 Written records and background papers must be made available for inspection by the public as soon as reasonably practicable at the authority offices and on the authority website.5
7 Written records of decisions and reports (considered) that must be available for public inspection must be retained for six years and background papers for four years.6
8 Where a committee system in a local authority in England makes an SNN decision then Part VA (Sections 100A-100K), 1972 Act and The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 (2014 Regulations) apply and:
8.1 Where the SNN decision is made by full council or by a committee/sub-committee then:
- The meeting shall be open to the public unless the public is excluded, and the meeting held in private where confidential or exempt information may be disclosed;
- Copies of the agenda shall be open for inspection by the public together with copies of reports save to the extent the meeting will be held in private;
- After the meeting the minutes, any summary of a private part of the meeting, the agenda and any reports are open to inspection for six years. Background papers are available for up to four years;
8.2 Where the SNN decision is made by an officer exercising delegated authority then:
- The Officer must produce a written record of the decision containing the date, the decision taken, reasons, details of any alternatives considered and rejected and (not in all cases) whether any elected member has declared a conflict of interest.7
- That written record and background papers must be made available for inspection by the public as soon as reasonably practicable at the authority offices and on the authority website. Written records must be retained for six years and background papers for four years.8
9 Publication of and access to information obligations do not apply where confidential information9 would be disclosed in breach of an obligation of confidence or where exempt information (as defined in Section 100I of and Schedule 12A to the 1972 Act) would be disclosed. Exempt information is:
- Information relating to any individual;
- Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual;
- Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) save where that information is required to be registered under (for example) the Companies Act 2006 or the Charities Act 2011 (amongst others) and where the information relates to a proposed development where the authority might grant itself planning permission;
- Information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority;
- Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings;
- Information which reveals that the authority proposes
- a to give under any enactment a notice under or by virtue of which requirements are imposed on a person; or
- b to make an order or direction under any enactment; and
- Information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime
10 Information remains exempt only for so long as in all the circumstances the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure and both tests must be satisfied to keep the information exempt.
11 It is considered difficult to identify a scenario where a SNN decision would involve exempt information save where there is detailed commercial information about a development included within the papers. For an example of an SNN decision document, see Example 5 in Annex A .
12 It should also be noted that whenever a local authority meeting is open to the public, members of the public are able to report on that meeting including by filming and/or audio recording the meeting and taking photographs.10
13 As can be seen from the above, provided that any street naming/numbering decision does not contain confidential or exempt information, a significant level of detail should be publicly available on decisions that have been (or may be made).
- Regulations 13-15, 2012 Regulations
- Regulations 14 and 15, 2012 Regulations
- Regulation 21, 2012 Regulations
- Regulation 7, 2014 Regulations
- Regulation 8, 2014 Regulations
- Which is provided by a government department or where disclosure is otherwise prohibited by or under any enactment or Court order.
- See Section 100A, 1972 Act and the 2012 Regulations, Regulation 4.