The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) provides public access to information held by public authorities. It does this in two ways: 

• Public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities 
• Members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities 

The FOI Act gives two related qualified rights – the right to be told whether the information is held and the right to receive the information, subject to exemptions. The right of access applies regardless of the purpose of the application 

The Act covers any recorded information held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Recorded information includes printed documents, computer files, letters, emails, photographs, hand written notes and sound or video recordings. 

The Act does not give people access to their own personal data (information about themselves). Individuals wishing to see information about themselves need to make a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 2018. 

Freedom of Information Publication Scheme

CBPC FOI requests

March 2026  

The Council was asked for:  

A copy of all emails among Coombe Bissett Parish Councillors which relate to the CBPC response to two Wiltshire Council Planning applications: PL/2025/06082 and PL/2021/01329. Names and personal information has been redacted from the copies of the exchanges.