Humberstone fitties

Dear Sir / Madam

I am pleased to acknowledge your request for information, which has been
allocated the reference number NELC/28121/2324.

Your request has been passed to the relevant department and you can expect
your response within the 20 working day limit. If it will take us longer
than 20 working days to respond to you, we will inform you of this and
provide you with the expected date for receiving a response.

Further information about how we will deal with your Freedom of
Information requests is available on our website at:

[1]https://www.nelincs.gov.uk/your-council/...

Please feel free to contact me if you require any further information or
assistance quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

North East Lincolnshire Council

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Dear Requester,

Thank you for your information request, reference number NELC/28121/2324,
which asked for:

All information regarding the sale of humberston fitties My request
includes all meetings and documentation associated meetings/ documentation
regarding the sale of Humberston fitties to Paul Spriggins Tingdene from
the first meeting to the conclusion.

I would like information and Documentation of the header lease These are
the legal contracts and allows them to make changes providing they get all
the required approvals like planning or any other legal requirements.

We can confirm that North East Lincolnshire Council holds information in
relation to the matter requested.

Firstly, in relation to your request we would like to confirm that we have
not sold Humberston Fitties to Tingdene, rather this was a leasehold
disposal.

The approval to progress a leasehold disposal of the Humberston Fitties
followed recommendations and decisions taken at Select Committee,
Scrutiny, Cabinet and Full Council. Three (3) Cabinet decisions led to the
completion of an Officer Decision Record (ODR) dated 11th September 2017
which sets out the process taken to procure an agent, advertise the
opportunity and consider offers as well as stating the preferred offer
(Tingdene) along with the amount received. 

The ODR is published on the Councils website and starts from page 48 of
the [1]Officer-Decisions-2017-reduced.pdf (nelincs.gov.uk) on the [2]How
decisions are made | NELC (nelincs.gov.uk) webpage.

The meetings where formal recommendations and decisions approving the
completion of a leasehold disposal of the Fitties are stated on our
website within the [3]Humberston Fitties archive information | NELC
(nelincs.gov.uk) webpage. Please also see [4]Council, Cabinet and
Portfolio Holder meeting papers (June 2016 to May 2020) | NELC
(nelincs.gov.uk)

Any documentation, discussions or information in relation to drafting of
the terms of the lease, are superseded by the final lease agreement
itself.  The lease agreement therefore is the contract in law between
landlord (Council) and tenant (Tingdene). The lease agreement between the
Council and Tingdene is registered with HM Land Registry.  You can
download a copy, at cost, from their website: [5]Search for land and
property information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

As this information is reasonably accessible to you by other means, it is
exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information by virtue of
section 21 of the Act.

Between the approval of the offer from the preferred bidder by the Council
and the signing of the lease discussions took place between the Council
and Tingdene in relation to the lease and operational matters for the
handover of the site. This included a meeting on July 25th 2017.

We determine that the information held by North East Lincolnshire Council
in relation to the lease and not included in the lease or other published
information in respect to the leasehold disposal of Humberston Fitties
would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act by
the virtue of sections 36 that disclosure would prejudice the effective
conduct of public affairs; and 43 disclosure would prejudice or would be
likely to prejudice someone’s commercial, in this instance North East
Lincolnshire Council and Tingdene.

Section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act states that information is
exempt if, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of
the information would, or would be likely to, prejudice the effective
conduct of public affairs. The Monitoring Officer of North East
Lincolnshire Council is satisfied that the disclosure of the requested
information would or would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of
public affairs, as disclosing the information would  be likely to
prejudice the Council’s ability to undertake free and frank discussions
and negotiations effectively with bidders and other parties for the
benefit of the community and the place of North East Lincolnshire.

Section 36 is a qualified exemption, and requires consideration of whether
the balance of public interest is to disclose or withhold the requested
information, before the exemption can be applied. The public good may
differ from the private interests of an individual requester and in this
respect the test is undertaken under the principal of being applicant
blind. North East Lincolnshire Council will always begin from the position
that information should be disclosed. All public interest tests are
undertaken by the Information Governance team with input from any relevant
information owners.

The following factors were considered in favour of disclosing the
requested information the public interest in understanding how North East
Lincolnshire Council works in the disposal of its assets and negotiations
with bidders, in this case in relation to Humberston Fitties; ensuring
transparency and accountability of the process, promoting confidence in
the process and allowing scrutiny.

The following factors were considered in favour of withholding the
requested information that there is a need to ensure that the free and
frank exchange of views can take place; there is a public interest in
ensuring that North East Lincolnshire Council can consider all options,
and consequences in a closed environment in order to achieve the best
outcome for the place and community of North East Lincolnshire; the effect
disclosure may have on the co-operation of third parties to openly engage
with the Council in future discussions, develop strong and positive
working relationships and promote and support activities within North East
Lincolnshire; the considerable information in the public domain including
the lease available to the requester and others to ensure transparency,
accountability of understanding of the process and allow scrutiny.

Section 43 (2 ) of the Freedom of Information Act states that Information
is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be
likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the
public authority holding it). As part of lease discussions sensitive
information is provided in relation commercial activities to inform those
discussions, with an explicit expectation on the part of the provider that
their information will be kept protected and confidential by the other
party, without this confidence and expectation of confidentiality North
East Lincolnshire Council would not be able to undertake negotiations or
support investment for the place of North East Lincolnshire.

Section 43 is a qualified exemption, and requires consideration of whether
the balance of public interest is to disclose or withhold the requested
information, before the exemption can be applied. The public good may
differ from the private interests of an individual requester and in this
respect the test is undertaken under the principal of being applicant
blind. North East Lincolnshire Council will always begin from the position
that information should be disclosed. All public interest tests are
undertaken by the Information Governance team with input from any relevant
information owners.

In assessing the public interest the following factors, were considered in
favour of disclosure the public interest in understanding the activities
of North East Lincolnshire Council, ensuring and promoting transparency
and accountability for advice and decisions, and that value for money is
achieved and the best outcomes for the place and community of North East
Lincolnshire are delivered.

The following factors were in favour of withholding the information the
effect disclosure would have on the commercial interest of North East
Lincolnshire Council and Tingdene acting in a competitive environment; the
effect disclosure would have on the ability of North East Lincolnshire
Council to generate opportunities for the area that deliver positive
outcomes for our community as well as other activities and negotiations if
information could not be provided in confidence to enable informed and
free and frank discussions.

North East Lincolnshire Council consider that the public interest is for
the application of the section 36 and 43(2) exemptions of the Freedom of
Information Act to ensure that the Council can engage confidentially and
effectively with potential investors. In coming to this decision we taken
into account the information already publicly accessible to the community
of North East Lincolnshire and any interested parties and the benefits for
the place and community of North East Lincolnshire.

We trust that this provides you with the information you require to
understand the Council’s actions to disposal of the leasehold of
Humberston Fitties and the lease that is in place with Tingdene. Please
note that any subsequent management of the Humberston Fitties site after
the signing of the lease is at the discretion of Tingdene, in line with
the lease agreement.

If you believe that your request for information has not been handled in
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, you have the right to
request an internal review by the Council. If you wish to request an
internal review, please write to us detailing the reasons why. Please be
clear about which elements of the Council’s response or handling of the
request you are unhappy with, and would like the Council to address during
the internal review process.  If following this you are still dissatisfied
you may contact the Office of the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely

North East Lincolnshire Council

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