Heygate redevelopment partnership - Annual business plan and minutes
Dear Southwark Council,
Paragraph 13.2 of the Regeneration Agreement signed between the Council and Lendlease for the redevelopment of the Heygate estate, requires Lendlease to supply the Council with an 'Annual Business Plan' on a yearly basis, which gives estimates of profit forecasts.
I am writing to request a full unredacted copy of this year's Annual Business Plan along with the minutes of any Quarterly Management Board meetings.
Yours faithfully,
Jerry Flynn
35% Campaign
www.35percent.org
Dear Southwark Regeneration,
As per your instructions, please consider this a fresh request for the Annual Business Plan.
Yours sincerely,
Jerry Flynn
www.35percent.org
Link: [1]File-List
Dear Mr Flynn,
Re: Your request for information: 857860
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 12
November 2018, in which you requested:
As per your instructions, please consider this a fresh request for the
Annual Business Plan.
Your request has been dealt with under Environmental Information
Regulations (EIR) 2004.
In response to it, we are able to provide the attached information.
Please also note that wherever the information is redacted, this is in
accordance with Regulation 12 (5) (e) under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004, where disclosure would adversely affect or be very
likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the council and / or any
third party.
Having consulted with our third party developer, reliance upon an
exemption under the EIR is always subject to the requirement under
Regulation 12 (1) (b) that the public interest in maintaining the
exception outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
In this instance, the council asserts that the public interest in
providing this information does not out weigh the likely prejudice to
commercial and economic interests of the third party.
In arriving at this view, the council has considered the following factors
both for and against the release of information.
Factors in favour of release:
• Regulation 5 of the Environmental Information Regulations
states where a public authority holds environmental information; it shall
make it available on request and, as a starting point, the council is
required to apply a presumption in favour of disclosure.
• The specific request is in relation to a large scale
regeneration scheme covering a large area of the borough and affecting
many residents as a result. The sheer scale of the plans carries with it
an inherent amount of public interest.
Factors in favour of withholding:
• The redacted information is required to protect the
development model which is a trade secret and commercial in confidence.
• In addition, the cash flow information is derived from the
viability model and is market sensitive financial information the use and
disclosure of which needs to be managed within listing requirements. Lend
Lease is ultimately listed on the Australian stock exchange and is subject
to stock exchange rules.
• As this project is highly significant, the disclosure of
forecast cash flow information would trigger disclosure obligations to the
stock exchange which would not otherwise be necessary and the release of
such details could affect its share price and market capitalisation, its
financial strength and resource as well as its reputation.
It is therefore the council’s assertion that the factors in favour of
withholding this very sensitive commercial information outweigh the
factors in favour of release and therefore in line with regulation 14 this
note acts as refusal notice.
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make an appeal for a review of our decision, you
should write to the Corporate Freedom of Information Manager at:
Corporate Freedom of Information Officer
The Governance Team (2^nd floor)
PO Box 64529
London
SE1P 5LX
Email: [2][Southwark Borough Council request email]
If you are not content with the outcome of your appeal, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have first
exhausted our internal appeal procedure and you should contact him within
2 months of the outcome of your internal appeal.
Further information on the Freedom of Information Act is available through
the Information Commissioner at the:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Internet: [3]www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely,
Martyna Plewniak
Systems Information Project Officer
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References
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1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D490AA.EFB2F5B0
2. mailto:[Southwark Borough Council request email]
3. http://www.ico.org.uk/
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