In January, Plain Speaker reported that Calder Valley people had asked Craig Whittaker MP to access and make public a full unredacted copy of the Defra report on Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts, so that he could make an informed vote in the House of Commons on proposed new fracking legislation in the Infrastructure Bill.

Of course this didn’t happen.

But now the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ruled that:

“DEFRA has incorrectly withheld the information  [and must] disclose an unredacted copy of the report”

in the next 35 days, in order to follow Environmental Information Regulations. If Defra fails to do this, it may be “dealt with as a contempt of court”.

You can download the ICO’s decision notice here