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FOI - Fees and charges

If the information you request is contained in the Publication Scheme then there is no charge to access the information online or to download the information from our website. Depending on demand, a charge may be levied for sending out printed versions of documents that are available on our website. You will be advised of any charge at the time of your request. (Charges will be limited to 10p a sheet for printing and photocopying plus packing and postage costs).

If the information you request is not contained in the Publication Scheme, we may charge a fee as laid down by the legislation.

A limit to the cost of responding to requests has been established at £450. Where the cost of responding to your request exceeds the limit (excluding any disbursement costs such as photocopying, postage etc), the South West RDA is not obliged to comply with the request. We will get in touch with you to try and bring your request under the cost threshold, or we will explain what information we could provide within the limit.

Where the cost of responding is less than £450 there will not be a fee for providing the information, however, we are permitted to charge for the disbursement costs such as photocopying and postage.

The cost of £450 is calculated on the basis of a rate of £25 an hour. This means that the South West will commit up to 18 hours of a South West RDA employee’s time to process your request and collate the information requested.

If a fee or payment is required we will always send you a 'Fees Notice' stating the amount before we start to process your request. This fee must be paid before any information is released.

If the payment is not received within 3 months of the notice being issued, South West RDA is no longer obliged to comply with the request.

An aerial view of the coastline at Lyme Regis

Engineer inspecting metal component