A south Wales paper has won a battle spanning nearly two years to see a local authority report.

Swansea Council had spent £40,000 compiling a feasibility study into a former bingo and cinema which it didn’t actually own.

When the South Wales Evening Post requested a copy of the study, the council refused saying it needed to protect the commercial interests of the building’s owner.

Ironically, considering the lengthy battle for information, the Evening Post has labelled the report’s contents “unexciting” in a related article.

The property in Swansea, called the Elysium Building, has been derelict for several years and the council commissioned private consultants to suggest ways it could be brought back into use.

The Evening Post initially submitted a request to see the report under the Freedom of Information Act in May 2006.

This was denied so the Evening Post embarked on a series of challenges which also failed.

Eventually the paper contacted the Information Commissioner who advised the council to make the study public.

News editor Chris Davies told holdthefrontpage: “It was really quite satisfying to get the result on this, I’d been chasing it for quite some time.

“It just goes to show the strengths and weaknesses of the FOI legislation. It gives us the right to request the information but the process is littered with hurdles.

“In this case, we were just surprised at the council spending tax payers’ money on the report in the first place and couldn’t believe it when they refused to release it.

“It really shouldn’t have taken as much effort and as long as it did but in the end I think the principle was worth it.”