FOI - Development Infrastructure Funding Study for RBK

Please can you send me the Development Infrastructure Funding Study for Kingston upon Thames (DIFS) or current draft thereof, together with data that gives the assumptions on which the Study is based and information that shows in full the assumptions used in the study. Please also send minutes of meetings in which the DIFS has been proposed, discussed or approved or mentioned in any way, together with the names of people participating in any such discussions or meetings or decisions.

I assert that you do not have the right under EIR 12 (4) to withhold any of the requested information on the basis that such information may be "incomplete, unresolved or otherwise undecided". I assert that such an exception fails the public interest test. Under Regulation 12(1)b of the EIR , it is stated that "the public authority can only withhold the information if, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in meeting the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information."

I assert that it is in the "greater good or benefit to the community" for any and all information that may affect the Council's ambitious growth plans for the Borough be made public, specifically given there is considerable doubt as to whether the council has a mandate for the growth being planned (Roy Thomson - Growth Committee discussion of Direction of Travel October 2016), given that the council only has authority from IPC Committee to pursue Opportunity Area status for Kingston Town (IPCC Committee 24/3/15) whilst it is pursuing Opportunity Area status for areas across the Borough, and given the complete secrecy with which discussions and plans are being formed with the GLA for growth in Kingston. In my opinion, the way in which growth policy is being developed and information withheld is undemocratic and harmful to public interest and there is no doubt that it is in the greater good and benefit of the community to receive details about how the Council's growth plans and associated infrastructure, may be funded. By withholding information, Kingston Council would be purposefully limiting public awareness of the potential for growth in the Borough, restricting public participation in environmental decisions and working to stop people from creating a better environment - all of which are counter to Directive 2003/4/EC. I assert also that the Council would not be justified to withhold the requested information because Regulation 12(2) of the EIR states that "a public authority shall apply a presumption in favour of disclosure" and the council has no justifiable reason not to presume in favour of such disclosure.

I also assert that disclosing the names of people who are acting in their professional capacity or expressing views of their organisations is not a disclosure that is exempt under the Data Protection Act or Regulation 13(1) of the EIR and that there is no basis on which to withhold the names of any person involved in any way in the DIFS.