Purchase and sale of Ashley Road/Lee Valley Technopark at loss of £9 million

The request was refused by Haringey Borough Council.

Peoples Information Center

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

The Ashley Road Technopark leasehold was purchased and sold on 27.3.15 by Haringey Council at a loss of £9m.

I write in reference to the following Cabinet Report in January 2014:
https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/docu...

Please provide the following documents referred to in the report or forming part of it:

1. Advice from Deloitte

2. Other 'expert advice' referred throughout the report

3. Legal advice on lease terms

4. Agenda item 12

5. Copy of Head Lease with Boistrous Holdings Limited

6. Copy of lease with Singer and Friedlander Properties Plc

7. Financial modelling referred to in paragraphs 1.9 4.8, 4.13, 6.2 (include risk analysis), 6.6 and 11.5 of the report.

Yours faithfully,

Ranjan Balakumaran
Peoples Information Center

Haringey Borough Council

Dear Mr Balakumaran

 

Freedom of Information / Environmental Information Regulations Request:
LBH/7227918

 

I acknowledge your request for information received on 27 March 2018.

 

This information request will be dealt with in accordance with the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations and we
will send the response by 26 April 2018

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Feedback and Information Governance

 

Shared Service Centre | Central Team

Haringey Council 

10th Floor, Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, London N22 7TR

 

www.haringey.gov.uk

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Simon Neil, Haringey Borough Council

Dear Mr Balakumaran,

Thank you for your request for information received on 27 March 2018, in which you asked for the following information:

The Ashley Road Technopark leasehold was purchased and sold on 27.3.15 by Haringey Council at a loss of £9m.
I write in reference to the following Cabinet Report in January 2014:
https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/docu...

Please provide the following documents referred to in the report or forming part of it:
1. Advice from Deloitte
2. Other 'expert advice' referred throughout the report
3. Legal advice on lease terms
4. Agenda item 12
5. Copy of Head Lease with Boistrous Holdings Limited
6. Copy of lease with Singer and Friedlander Properties Plc
7. Financial modelling referred to in paragraphs 1.9 4.8, 4.13, 6.2 (include risk analysis), 6.6 and 11.5 of the report.

My response is as follows:

The Sale of Technopark was to the Harris Federation. However, the transaction was agreed between the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and the Council, rather than directly with the Harris Federation.

In relation to the documents and information you have requested, there is a substantial cost involved in sourcing them from files, redacting confidential information, and photocopying the documents. We have estimated that it will cost more than the ‘appropriate limit’ to provide all the correspondence and documents relating to this transaction that you are requesting.

Section 12 of the Act allows public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for local government is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

In this instance, we have estimated that it will cost at least £750.00 to provide you with the required information but the end cost is likely to be much higher. This amount is therefore over the appropriate limit as specified in the regulations, and consequently we are not obliged by the Freedom of Information Act to respond to your request; therefore we will not process this element of your request.

We cannot disclose the communications between the Council and it’s legal advisers, or the legal advice given, as they are subject to legal professional privilege. They are therefore exempt from the Freedom of Information Act under Section 42 of that Act.

When relying on this exemption, we must consider the public interest. It is accepted that in cases involving legal professional privilege, there must be a strong public interest in disclosure to offset the strong public interest in safeguarding openness in communications between lawyers and their clients to ensure full and frank legal advice. We do not think that the public interest in disclosure is sufficiently strong in this case. This letter is a Refusal Notice as required under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Cabinet decision authorising the acquisition and sale of the Technopark was made in March 2015 and the Cabinet Report (January 2014) can be found on the Council’s website – see link below.

http://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/ieLis...

If you are unhappy with how we have responded to your request you can ask us to conduct an Internal Review. If so, please contact the Feedback and Information Team as below (please note you should do this within two months of receiving this response).
Feedback and Information Governance Team
River Park House
225 High Road
N22 8HQ
E [email address]

Yours sincerely,

Neil Simon
Property Consultant
Strategic Property Unit
Regeneration Planning and Development
Haringey Council
River Park House
225 High Road
London N22 8HQ

Email: [email address]
Tel: 020 8489 3646
[mobile number]

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