THE Forest Council has defended its decision to hold meetings about the purchase of property behind closed doors after concerns were raised last week.

The council will have spent more than £4.2 million on buying property by the end of the current financial year, which includes the purchase of Coleford’s Pyart Court and a property in Cinderford for use as a waste and recycling disposal.

At a meeting of full council last week, former deputy leader Councillor Brian Robinson (I, Longhope and Huntley) said it was disappointing that decisions on the purchases had been taken behind closed doors.

But the council says that was only the case so as not to disclose the personal and business affairs of the sellers, which it is not legally allowed to do.

Cllr Robinson told the meeting that the public should know about what the authority is looking to spend their money on.

He said: “Going forward, I don’t think we should be taking those decisions behind closed doors.

“I would like to see that, when we make capital investment decisions, ways are found for separating out what is genuine exempt information which should not be shared publicly from actually the general proposals for investment.

“I think the community is entitled to know about it so that they can give us support or otherwise.”

The council is buying the property in Cinderford for £2,594,720, while a further £1.6 million has been set aside for the site’s development.

And while they have not officially revealed how much they are spending on Pyart Court, their capital investment programme says it is purchasing a property in Coleford for £1,617,000 during 2022/23.

Cllr Philip Burford (I, Hartpury and Redmarley) asked for more information about the capital investments.

He said: “There is property purchased in Cinderford and Coleford, and there are revised budget sums for 2022/23 and a budget item of £1.6 million for 2023/24.

“Could council be told what each of those sums are for please?”

Chief finance officer Andrew Knott said the two property purchases were items approved by the council in the current financial year.

He said councillors should know what they are but that it was confidential and he did not tell the meeting.

The £1.6 million is being put aside for any “opportunities which come up in future”, he said.

Cllr Burford said one of the purchases the council has agreed had second and third phase financial implications for developments.

He asked: “Are those later stage development costs included in the capital programme?”

Mr Knott said there were “rough estimates” but the phases currently are not costed and explained it may be partly funded by another party.

A spokesperson for the council explained why they sometimes hold meetings behind closed doors.

“We would like to explain the reasons for this so we can be as transparent as possible. Council meetings at the Forest of Dean District Council must comply with relevant legislation, and as a general approach we always try to make sure everything the council does is debated in public.

“When conducting council business, decisions are taken to exclude members of the public only when it is necessary to do so and on each occasion all councillors vote to decide to take the council meeting into an exempt session.

“In addition, when we have an exempt discussion it must meet set criteria in Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 to make sure we are operating legally. Only where the criteria is met are members asked to consider taking a decision to exclude the public.

“The legislation sets out various categories of what constitutes exempt information that should not be disclosed. It is usually to protect a person or organisation, personal or commercial information, that if it were shared in a public meeting would have a negative impact on them.

“So, for example, when the council is considering a property purchase, the information would be exempt to protect the organisations the council is dealing with. To conduct the business in public would disclose the financial and business affairs of the seller, which the council should not do and is legally not allowed to do.

“We are not trying to hide anything from the public in these cases, and the council’s full financial information can be found on our website.

“Once a purchase is made we let the public know.”