By virtue of paragraph(s) 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.
Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)
Condition:
Information falling within paragraph 3 above is not exempt information by virtue of that paragraph if it is required to be registered under-(a)the Companies Acts (as defined in section 2 of the Companies Act 2006); (b)the Friendly Societies Act 1974; (c)the Friendly Societies Act 1992; (d)the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1965 to 1978; (e)the Building Societies Act 1986; or (f)the Charities Act 1993
Information is not exempt information if it relates to proposed development for which the local planning authority may grant itself planning permission pursuant to regulation 3 of the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992
Information which-(a)falls within any of paragraphs 1 to 7 above; and (b)is not prevented from being exempt by virtue of paragraph 8 or 9 above, is exempt information if and so long, as in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information
The Council have been given the opportunity to make a commercial property acquisition and this is time critical. The site will be put on the open market but the Council have been given an opportunity to make an offer for the purchase. The sale is linked to another development by a company and certain information is required prior to commencement of development. Obtaining the "in principle" decision to purchase may be sufficient for this company to start the development process and generate private investment in the site.
The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was notified of this late key decision being an exempt item on 7 March 2019. He has duly given his consent for this item to be considered at the 26 March 2019 meeting bearing in mind the reasons for a decsion, as detailed above.