Council backs down over arena ‘gagging order’

Bristol City Council legal officers have backed down over a “blanket gagging order” delivered to councillors wanting to investigate a report into the finances of the city’s £90million arena project.

In a rare show of unity, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors made a joint statement condemning the actions of the council’s chief legal officer.

The entire contents of a report to an extraordinary meeting of the Overview and and Scrutiny Management Board (OSM) on the arena finances was deemed commercially sensitive.

Councillors were forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from revealing the contents of any part of the report – regardless of how sensitive the information was.

In an email to councillors, the legal team said that the move had come after information in a secret report to cabinet last month had been leaked.

This referred to an exclusive Bristol24/7 storyexclusive Bristol24/7 story which revealed how a report to cabinet showed the Metrobus transport scheme between Ashton Vale and Temple Meads was about £9million over budget.

But soon after a joint press release was sent out earlier today, the so-called gagging order was withdrawn, with the officer in charge allegedly saying the decision had been made “in a hurry” and “mistakes can always be made”.

Labour group leader councillor Helen Holland said yesterday: “The arena project is important to Bristol, and to us, but as we have said on many occasions ‘not at any price’.

“Large amounts of public money are going to be spent, and as councillors we need to hold that spending to account, and in turn to be publicly accountable for examining the budget for the arena.”

Tory councillor John Goulandris added: “Blanket gagging orders insult the integrity of councillors and could be interpreted as an attempt to avoid effective scrutiny.

“If any matter is financially sensitive, then councillors should be told the information is sensitive and cannot be disclosed to third parties. I am perfectly happy to agree to that, but not to sign a blanket gagging order, which is akin to signing a blank cheque.”

Councillors have been unhappy with the way scrutiny of the arena project has been handled. Initially, the Place Scrutiny Committee was charged with overseeing it, but this power was removed last month.

By the end of October it was confirmed by officers that the responsibility for future scrutiny of the arena would be moved to the OSM.

The next scheduled meeting of OSM was not due until early 2015, so an extraordinary meeting was arranged for tomorrow to consider the contents of the report into the arena.

But earlier this week councillors were told they were required to sign a ‘blanket exempt status’ to the information on the arena report, which would prohibit them from discussing the information in public.

Liberal Democrat group leader councillor Gary Hopkins said in the wake of the backdown from the council: “I can’t remember the last time we had an all-party press release. This is a big signal about the council’s approach. The presumption of openness is not being fulfilled.

“I hope we don’t have to keep on doing this. The public has a right to know.”