Five councillors named after property company collapse

It includes one who had put in FOI request

The names of five individuals asked to contribute to a ‘lessons learned’ investigation into a Devon council’s defunct property development company will have to be released.

That’s according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which has ordered Mid Devon District Council to disclose the names of five former councillors that were requested as part of a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by a resident.

The ICO did side with the council on another part of the resident’s request, though, believing it had disclosed all the information it held.

The council launched its own investigation into what went wrong with its 3 Rivers Developments firm towards the end of 2023, just a few months after voting in favour of shutting it.

As part of the investigation, the council approached former councillors who had been involved with 3 Rivers, which had been launched in 2017.

However, some critics believe the council was too prescriptive about the investigation’s remit, and that its oversight and control meant the probe lacked credibility.

One of those was former councillor and leader, Barry Warren. He submitted an FoI request to Mid Devon in January last year, which included a request for the names of those written to by the council’s chief executive, Steven Walford.

After much back and forth, including an involvement from the Information Commissioner in October last year, Mr Warren has finally secured the list of names.

Somewhat ironically, his own name was one of the five on the list.

“There were five names of former councillors – three former leaders and two cabinet members who had been shareholder representatives at 3 Rivers Development on behalf of the cabinet at some time,” Mr Warren said

“My name was one of the five names given. What is concerning is the way that MDDC are using the FoI system to delay releasing information.

“This may be an extreme case, but it has taken 18 months to get them to disclose these names.”

The council said it had kept the names of those it had approached out of the public because “had we not done so, then it was likely the statements [from the former councillors] would be superficial and not helpful”.

Furthermore, the council argued that there was an “explicit expectation the names and comments made by those former councillors would not be released in connection with this matter”.

The Information Commissioner argued, however, that confirming which councillors were invited to comment would not impact the anonymity of the comments made, given the contents of responses were not part of the information being requested.

And the Commissioner also disagreed with the view that former councillors would not expect their names to be requested under FoI legislation. The council had tried to use a section of the FoI law to prevent disclosure of the names, but the Commissioner felt that wasn’t applicable in this case, although could be if personal contact details had been requested.

“The Commissioner does not accept that disclosing the names of the former councillors who were invited to contribute would directly implicate them in having caused the failure of the company,” the Commissioner said.

“Their individual statements have not been requested, nor confirmation that they took up the invitation to contribute. The only thing that can be read into their inclusion on the list is that it was thought they would be able to provide some insight into what went wrong.”

In March last year, external auditors Grant Thornton highlighted two areas of “significant weakness” linked to 3 Rivers Developments, namely that the council did not adequately scrutinise the firm and that the delay in approving the company’s 2022 business plan dented the authority’s reputation.

“The council did not exercise its shareholder role effectively, contributing to the failure of its arm’s length company and a significant financial loss,” the report said, adding that a protracted debate over the firm’s business plan “damaged the council’s reputation and meant the council was not able to set its budget in a robust and timely manner”.

Challenging trading conditions in the construction and housing sectors proved problematic for business, and the company shut down projects amid rocketing prices for materials.

It also faced struggles getting hold of land, while rising interest rates and their subsequent impact on the housing market also knocked the company.

The last set of full accounts for the firm on Companies House show a pre-tax loss of more than £256,000 in the year to 31 March 2024, an improvement on the £3.8 million loss for the prior year.