Report on the Investigation into Legal Agreement with Tesco

The report by North Norfolk District Council's Monitoring Officer and Audit and Performance Manager into a controversial 2003 legal agreement with supermarket giant Tesco will be made public at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday, 28 June, 2006.

The report's findings will first be reported informally to Cabinet Members in a closed session on 12 June, but they will make no changes to it. The Council's leadership can then react by looking at what lessons can be learned from the controversy, and whether any processes need to change, and be ready for Councillors' questioning on 28 June.

The investigation follows the emergence earlier this year of a three-year-old agreement between NNDC and Tesco, signed in the transition period between administrations after Council elections, and relating to a land deal on the site of a proposed Tesco supermarket in Sheringham. The agreement prohibited NNDC from promoting an alternative Council-owned site as suitable for a supermarket.

The agreement was signed on the authority of the Council's then Executive Committee (the forerunner of the Cabinet), and did not involve planning officers or the Development Control Committees.

NNDC'S Leader, Councillor Simon Partridge, said: "We all want to get to the bottom of this, to understand its causes and ramifications. We also need to make sure that our processes are properly transparent in the future."

The Local Government Ombudsman has formally asked NNDC for information on the case (the normal first response to a complaint from a member of the public). NNDC's own report will form the basis of that response, after which the Ombudsman will decide whether further investigation by his/her own office is needed.

Councillor Partridge said: "I am determined that our own investigation should be so thorough that, I would hope, the Ombudsman will have all the necessary information in our report.

"We have to take this seriously, and to be properly and honestly critical of council procedures," said Councillor Partridge. "There has been a huge amount of anger over this issue - among councillors as well as the general public. Local people need to know that we can continue doing what we are supposed to do: to represent their interests with effective local government."

The report and appendices can be downloaded here: Full Council meeting documents - 28 June 2006.

NOTES FOR EDITOR

• Full Council on Wednesday, 28 June will be held in the Council Chamber at North Norfolk District Council's office on Holt Road, Cromer, NR27 9EN. The meeting, which is open to the public, starts at 6pm.

• Copies of the report will be available to the media in printed form at the Full Council meeting on 28 June, and electronically after the meeting.

ENDS