Your data privacy matters. With your consent, we can retrieve all your personal and public information held by authorities and third parties. Concerned about data security? We’ll also ensure that this information is securely deleted when it’s no longer needed.
How Planning Mediation Uses This Resource
Planning Mediation utilizes this resource to gather evidence that can be used in court to build a case or defend one. Often in the disclosure process during court proceedings, critical information necessary for a fair trial is withheld as it could undermine a case. The current data protection rules are a vital means of establishing facts, and this component is essential for building a strong argument. Information we recover has revealed that officials are willing to fabricate evidence to defend their positions.
Real-Life Example
In one case, there had been a high level of complaints received by the local authority. However, upon data retrieval, no complaints were recorded. This led to court action, and in response, the Local Planning Authority (LPA) issued a handwritten complaint, claiming that the computer system was down and that the complaint wasn’t recorded. Planning Mediation then utilized a Freedom of Information request to determine how many times the computer system had been down, and the response was “never.” This provided clear evidence that the LPA was willing to forge evidence and lie to create a case.
Planning Mediation has won numerous cases using evidence that shows officials are willing to lie to defend their positions. In the same case, there were five internal communications stating that the enforcement officer had visited the site and could not see the reported breaches. However, on the witness stand during a public inquiry, the officer claimed that the breach was highly visible from the road, using this as justification. When confronted with the five emails reporting that he couldn’t see the breach during the site inspections, it shattered the credibility of the witness and demonstrated that the enforcement action lacked proper investigation. As a result, partial costs were awarded against the LPA.