The Information Commissioner has told the Cabinet Office to go back and properly handle an FoI request about the Area Plan for the North and West.
A member of the public asked for copies of emails involving the planning inspector and a firm of advocates.
The Cabinet Office released some material but blacked out parts, saying it was personal information or not relevant.
The Commissioner looked into the case and found the authority did not fully consider the data protection rules before deciding to hide the information.
There was also no proper evidence to show that the requests were considered “vexatious”, a label used when requests are seen as unreasonable.
The internal review carried out by the Cabinet Office “does not appear to address the specific issues raised by the applicant,” the Decision Notice said.
Some information that was originally blacked out as “out of scope” was later released after the Commissioner asked to see it.
The Commissioner said this should have been spotted during the internal review. Cabinet Office also took 23 working days to respond, three days longer than the 20-day limit set out in the law.
The Cabinet Office now has 30 days to either release the information or issue a new refusal notice explaining its reasons.