1. I draw your attention the final sentence in the below paragraph and request all documents relating to the pre-application advice provided by Wokingham Borough Council to Julian Sutton of JMS Planning & Development and Frasers Retail Limited regarding their planning application for a petrol station etc. Planning Application 211819. The information does not appear to be readily available.

LPAs should be clear about their practice in regard to the disclosure of pre[1]application discussions and explain this in their service offer. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 includes a presumption in favour of disclosure of information, including pre-application discussions, unless such disclosure would cause adverse impacts ( Regulation 12(5) Environment Information Regulations 2004). If an applicant has reason for requesting that the council keep advice confidential they should be permitted to make a reasoned request to the council prior to the pre-application discussions taking place. Councils retain discretion in regard to decisions on disclosure of information in any instance and should review these decisions on a regular basis. The LPA will have to reach a decision in each case where a request has been made, and in doing so will have to balance the interests of furthering trust with the prospective applicant against the advantage of engaging the community more widely in discussions. Wherever possible the LPA should make the decision in collaboration with the developer. Once an application is submitted the expectation is that the pre-application advice will come into the public arena.

Wokingham Borough Council do not publish pre-app responses as part of the application, however, as per the paragraph above they can be requested under the Freedom of Information Act. We would then consider them on a case by case basis whether they can be disclosed or not. In relation to this one, see attached file. We have redacted the signature as a precaution of security (fraud) and it being considered personal data (Section 40).