Sir Tom slams city over land secrecy

SIR TOM FARMER has called on city leaders to be more open after finally winning a legal battle to inspect confidential papers for a controversial £12 million land deal.

The millionaire Kwik-Fit founder and Hibs owner asked for documents relating to the sale of a council-owned, butterfly-shaped area south of Easter Road stadium in 2000.

A consortium led by Sir Tom wanted to develop the 12-acre site in order to fund a new stand and community facilities for Hibs, but missed out when council chiefs accepted a rival bid.

However, concerns about the bidding process led Sir Tom to submit a series of freedom of information requests about the deal to the council last July.

City leaders then rejected the requests on grounds of commercial confidentiality with the then-project operator Lochend Butterfly Project Ltd, but information commissioner Kevin Dunion ordered the council to release the papers, which show the different bids for the site.

He ruled the passage of time since the deal was done meant arguments over commercial sensitivity had "significantly diminished".

It is the second time in 18 months that council chiefs have been ordered to release information to Sir Tom over the sale of the Lochend Butterfly site, which is being turned into a major housing complex.

Sir Tom today revealed the information released to him was in fact fairly benign but argued that he should not have had to go to the commissioner to get it.

He said: "I fail to understand, particularly having seen the information, why they felt the need to keep it hidden.

"If I had not had the persistence and possibly the resources then this might not have been followed through to its conclusion.

"The council is a public body and needs to be more open about the information it holds."

Figures released in February revealed the city council failed to respond to a fifth of freedom of information requests within the legal timeframe last year.

Of the 1357 requests completed in 2007, only 1082 were responded to within 20 working days.

The city's Tory leader, Councillor Iain Whyte, said: "I do think the council should always seek to release as much information as it can. We need the council to be as open as possible."

A council spokesman said: "We respond to thousands of enquiries every year and it is inevitable that there will be a small number of appeals, especially where there are commercial, legal or other complex issues involved.

"We remain committed to being an open and transparent authority, and note the commissioner's report."

IN A FLAP OVER BUTTERFLY
A CONSORTIUM involving Hibs' parent company HFC Holdings, the Bank of Scotland and developer Morston Assets lost out on the Lochend Butterfly site in 2000 to a bid from the Lochend Butterfly Project Ltd.

Consortium bosses claimed council officials had misled them by originally telling them they should not attach any conditions to their bid.

They were upset because councillors were not told that the money from their plans would be used to redevelop the club's East Stand and putting in more community facilities.

The then council leader Donald Anderson apologised after admitting the decision was based on inaccurate information from officials.

The Hibs consortium originally offered £2.5 million up front, plus a percentage of the future value of the land.

That was rejected in favour of the Lochend Butterfly Project Ltd's offer of £12m, conditional on planning permission being given for houses. The Hibs consortium then offered a higher figure but this came after a deadline for bids. A legal challenge was rejected in 2001.