BOURNEMOUTH council has been ordered to hand over records of conversations related to its controversial Wessex Fields proposals following a ruling by the first-tier tribunal.

The authority had refused to provide the material requested under the Freedom of Information Act, arguing that it would take an “unreasonable” amount of time to respond.

Following the tribunal’s decision earlier this month, the council now has four weeks to provide the records to Conor O’Luby, co-ordinator of the anti-Wessex Fields campaign group Friends of Riverside.

Mr O’Luby had two requests for copies of correspondence between council leader John Beesley; cabinet member for transport, Cllr Mike Greene; members of the planning committee; and planning officers refused between March 2017 and February last year.

Bournemouth council’s head of information governance rejected the applications for information, a move which was backed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) following an appeal.

However, a further appeal to the first-tier tribunal by Mr O’Luby overturned the decision and gave Bournemouth council four weeks to provide the material.

Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the council, he said: “The council wasted its own time and resources in a fruitless attempt to deny me access to the information, claiming without foundation, that Friends of Riverside requests were both ‘manifestly unreasonable’ and ‘vexatious’.”

In response, Cllr Greene said that the council would comply with the tribunal’s decision but that “Mr O’Luby is “likely to be disappointed” with what he receives.

He said: “It’s important to note that the ruling is a decision against the ICO and not against the council, which is not party to the proceedings.

“The full reasons for not providing the information were explained to Mr O’Luby, including which exemptions applied under the legislation.

“In accordance with standard procedure, the decision to refuse the request was taken by the council’s head of information governance.

“Mr O’Luby exercised his right to appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office to challenge these decisions and the regulator fully supported the council’s decision that those two requests were manifestly unreasonable.

“It is this ICO decision which the tribunal has overturned.

“Disappointingly, the ICO did not attend the tribunal to defend their decision.

“That meant nobody was present to explain either the council’s or the Information Commissioner’s reasons for reaching the decisions or respond to any of the comments or assertions about named officers and elected members which Mr O’Luby made without, it seems, any evidence to support his allegations.”

The Wessex Fields planning application related to the information requests is due to be considered by Bournemouth council’s planning committee on Monday, January 28.