Freedom of information
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) and INSPIRE Regulations give you rights to access official information.
The Information Commissioner's Office has a guide to the Freedom of Information Act
The Environmental Information Regulations give you specific rights to obtain environmental information. You can also use a postcode search to check local environmental data.
The INSPIRE Regulations give you the right to view spatial or geographic information. A guide to how they work is available from the Information Commissioner's Office website, INSPIRE regulations
The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations give you the right to re-use most of the information that we hold for the purposes of our public task. More information on our public task can be found in our Public Task Statement
Before making a request – check if the information is already published
Information routinely published:
- Open data and transparency
- Planning applications – current and historic
- Public licensing registers
- Waste service - Bins, recycling and street cleaning
Additional information: Council housing stock was transferred under the Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) regime. (The two councils were replaced in 2019 by a new council West Suffolk council.)
- St Edmundsbury Borough Council transferred stock to Havebury Housing Partnership in 2002
- Forest Heath District transferred stock to Kings Forest Housing Ltd (now Flagship Homes) in 2004
Suffolk County Council information and services - many services are provided by the local county council including those listed below. Requests or enquiries should be directed to Suffolk County Council:
- roads and transport
- children, families, learning and schools
- adult social care and health
- refugee resettlement schemes
- public health in Suffolk
- births, deaths and ceremonies
Suffolk Observatory – The Suffolk office of data and analytics
How do I request West Suffolk council information?
Where information cannot be found in the council's publicly available sources, a request for recorded information should be made by email or in writing.
What will the council do?
We will respond no later than 20 working days after receiving your request. In most cases, we will give you the information you have requested. However, there may be reasons why we cannot provide the information you have asked us for. We will always tell you why we are not providing information.
What information is exempt?
The FOIA and the EIR recognise that there will be valid reasons why some kinds of information may not be disclosed, such as if its release would damage commercial interests or if it would contain personal information about another individual. For some exemptions we must consider whether the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in releasing it. If we decide that the information cannot be released we must tell you and explain why. We are not obliged to deal with vexatious or repeated requests or, in some cases, if the cost exceeds an appropriate limit. In addition, the FOIA and the EIR do not provide the right of access to personal information about you. This is dealt with by means of a subject access request
What happens if I am not happy with the response I get?
If you are unhappy with our response you may wish to complain about the way in which your request has been processed. Your complaint will be dealt with as a step two complaint in accordance with our complaints procedure. If you are still not satisfied following our response to your complaint you have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner