A bid to get information on bidders for Helensburgh’s Waterfront site put into the public domain failed today.
Dr Peter Brown questioned the decision by council officials to withhold information on the five remaining bidders – two of whom are preferred bidders – from the press and public.
But councillors and officials stood by the decision to make the papers exempt, and also said that no confidential information would be shared in minutes of the meeting of Argyll and Bute Council’s Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee.
All discussion relating to the exempt appendix was then held behind closed doors, with the press and public asked to leave.
Dr Brown said: “I would firstly like to remind councillors of the statement in the council’s constitution which says: ‘All decisions of the council, or any committee or sub-committee will be made in accordance with certain immutable principles, which includes ‘A presumption in favour of openness’.
“The reason given for exempting these Appendices is given as Paragraph 9 of Part I of Schedule 7A of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which is: ‘Any terms proposed or to be proposed by or to the authority in the course of negotiations for a contract for the acquisition or disposal of property or the supply of goods or services.’
“But this paragraph is qualified by Part II of Schedule 7A in Paragraph 4 which says ‘Information falling within paragraph 9 of Part I above is exempt information if and so long as disclosure to the public of the terms would prejudice the authority in those or any other negotiations concerning the property or goods or services.’
“Would councillors agree therefore that at least appendices B and C should be able to be shared with the public without prejudicing any negotiations as long as any financial information was redacted and that, only if these appendices are made public will this committee be fulfilling the council’s constitutional requirement in favour of openness?”
Appendix B was a summary of the five proposals received, while appendix C was a council official’s assessment of the proposals. A further exempt appendix contained the views of Avison Young, estate agents employed by Argyll and Bute Council.
Gemma Penfold, the committee’s chair, said: “These are exempt from the public for a reason, and we will not be sharing them with the public.”
Dr Brown then raised a second question on whether “full minutes” of the exempt section would be provided.
Clerk Stuart McLean responded: “It would be my position that appendices B, C and D would be considered exempt by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
“Minutes are never verbatim for any of the committees within the council. There are occasions when we have a private minute, but it is a private minute for our own reflection and consideration.
“I make a commitment to you to provide a summary of the discussion, but there will be no private or commercially sensitive information in it.”
This looks like a clear cut case where the public interest overrides any financial aspects of the deal. The Council should release details of all bidders before being forced to do so through FOI legislation which, regretfully, could take several months.