Identifying key interests relevant to the access application

An applicant sought information about the handling by the agency of a planning-related application lodged by the applicant. The agency refused access to information contained within multiple documents. The bulk of the agency’s refusals comprised the personal information of individuals who objected to the applicant’s planning proposal. The applicant applied for external review seeking access to the details of the objections. During the external review process, the agency advised OIC that assessment of the planning application had been finalised and provided OIC additional documents. On review of these documents, OIC identified that while they were outside the scope of the access application, they contained information of key interest to the applicant and were in a form that could be released to the applicant without requiring third party consultation or involving the disclosure of third party personal information.

At OIC’s request, the agency agreed to administratively release of the out of scope documents to the applicant. Satisfied with the information released administratively, the applicant agreed to resolve the review informally.