Victria Park "Confidentiality Agreement", what does it actually say? Options

[Simon Kirby]

We've been told a few times that the town council would like to publish the hydrogeological reports but are constrained by a confidentiality agreement:

Cracks appeared in the town centre park and nearby pavements and homes in the summer of 2010, shortly after water extraction works were being undertaken by Costain to build Parkway’s underground car park. A hydrogeological survey to establish the cause was conducted by the council soon after, at a cost of £9,000 to the taxpayers.

However, despite numerous requests from both the Newbury Weekly News and local residents, the survey will not be made public as it contains commercially-sensitive information and is bound by a confidentiality agreement with Costain, council officials say.

The town council's story about not publishing the hydrogeological reports because it was bound by a "confidentiality agreement" always looked suspect to me. I know from personal experience how the town council can be dishonest and evasive, so when the council refused a friend's request for the "confidentiality agreement" and reports I helped him ask for a review and then make a complaint to the Information Commissioner who made a decision on 4 August (see decision FS50531987). The Commissioner has decided that the town council were wrong to refuse to disclose the "confidentiality agreement" and has given them until the 8th September to do so. The town council have not yet complied, and they risk being found in contempt of court if they haven't published by the 8th.

The council have dropped their insistence that the "confidentiality agreement" is the reason they haven't published the reports and have now asserted legal professional privilege in the reports. The Information Commissioner has agreed that the reports are privileged, though that decision is being appealed to the Information Tribunal. The issue is that the council appear to have mislead us all this time about being constrained by Costain from publishing the hydrogeological reports, and in refusing to disclose the "confidentiality agreement" they do at this time appear to have tried to hide their deceit.

The council are usually quite bullish with their press-releases, but they've been uncharacteristically reticent on this development, and a thorough explanation is necessary.

[Simon Kirby]

On the web site today, Dan Cooper's article from the Newbury Weekly

The Information Commissioner gave the council 35 days from the date of his Decision to disclose the "confidentiality agreement", and with the Decision dated 4 August the deadline for disclosing the information is today.

I don’t agree with the ICO’s decision to require the publication of the confidentiality agreement, but I will of course ensure that the town council complies with the decision by sending the document to the resident.

The town council have not yet complied with the Information Commissioner's Decision and the "confidentiality agreement" has not so far been disclosed.