Council row over Ricoh Arena 'gagging order'

Tory city councillors are refusing to sign a “gagging order” banning them from speaking publicly about private talks over Ricoh negotiations with the Sky Blues.


Coventry's Ricoh Arena and, inset from left, councillors Kevin Foster and John Mutton

Tory group leader Councillor Kevin Foster said last night his group will not sign the “confidentiality agreement” put before them by council executives Martin Reeves and Chris West, the council’s representatives on the board of Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), which manages the Ricoh stadium.

Labour council leader John Mutton, during a heated exchange at a full council meeting yesterday, said he would prevent the Tory leader from having any private briefings about negotiations between the council, ACL, the Sky Blues and its owners SISU, unless he signed the agreement.

Coun Mutton said “immature” Coun Foster could not be “trusted” to keep secret commercially confidential information.

But Coun Foster claim the three-page confidentiality agreement was a “gagging order” banning not just disclosure of private financial information, but the contents of any private discussions – over a five-year period.

He said the legal document, already signed by Labour councillors, makes each individual signing it liable for any losses incurred as a result of public disclosure of commercially sensitive material.

Coun Foster described the confidentiality agreement as unprecedented, stating the only parallel was a previous document signed over one individual’s highly sensitive child protection file.

He said: “We objected to the breadth of what we were being asked to sign. Our first duty is to those who send us here as their elected representatives, not to other organisations or groups who might try to interfere with those duties.

“We recognise it would be inappropriate to make publicly available some information shared with councillors. But we’re not prepared to sign up to sweeping statements on broad areas for five years. It’s a gagging order.”

Earlier, he and ex-Conservative council leader Ken Taylor challenged Coun Mutton to reveal more to city taxpayers and Sky Blues fans about the negotiations over Ricoh ownership, and rent paid by the football club for its use.

Coun Foster is questioning why public information has dried up after a summer of talks, and several stories in the Coventry Telegraph.

Coun Mutton denied any “cover-up”, pointing to his statements in this paper over the issues which were not commercially confidential.

He said he had not had direct discussions with the relegated and financially challenged football club or Sisu over lowering the Ricoh rental agreement, but had discussed with Sisu the club’s hopes of acquiring a stake in ACL, which is jointly owned by the council and the Alan Edward Higgs Charity.

Coun Mutton added: “We’ve made it clear we want to see a proper business case from Sisu that shows the football club would have the investment it requires, but would demonstrate how the leisure land (around the stadium) could be redeveloped to the benefit of the Ricoh Arena.

“We all know we desperately need hotels. We also know we haven’t got the capital to do that.”

Coventry council’s leader has dismissed accusations he breached a “gagging order” banning councillors from revealing secret talks over the Sky Blues’ bid to own half the Ricoh.

John Mutton hit back at claims by Tory opponent Kevin Foster about comments Coun Mutton had made in yesterday’s Telegraph.

The council leader insisted he had not broken the terms of a confidentiality agreement signed by him and all fellow Labour councillors, which Tory councillors refused to sign.

Coun Mutton Told the Telegraph that Sky Blues owner Sisu had struck a headline agreement on a price for buying the 50 per cent stake in Ricoh stadium company Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) owned by the Alan Edward Higgs Trust. The other half-stake is owned by the council.

Coun Foster at Tuesday’s council meeting had put pressure on Coun Mutton to be open with taxpayers about recent negotiations over a deal, sought by the financially challenged football club to secure income from stadium commercial activities.

The Tory group leader said: “I had been aware heads of terms had been agreed between the Higgs charity and Sisu. We were advised it was commercially confidential.

“While I welcome John Mutton being more open about what’s going on, that was the very purpose of the questions I asked on Tuesday, when he insisted on confidentiality agreements and a desperate need for privacy.

“He’s now been forced to make comments, given people are increasingly asking questions about the stadium we own 50 per cent of.

“Private confidential information shouldn’t be revealed, but ironically John Mutton has made comments about the very information we were told was confidential.”

Coun Foster said the wide-ranging confidentiality agreement “gagged” councillors from publicly disclosing not just financial details, but general matters mentioned in briefings given by council officers to councillors. He added the legal document stated councillors could even be personally liable for any financial losses resulting from breaching the agreement.

Coun Mutton said he believed he had not revealed anything not already publicly known. He said: “Kevin Foster is trying to muddy the waters by making statements that are not true. I don’t know any of the financial aspects of it so I haven’t released anything commercially confidential, and wouldn’t have done.

“All I’m aware of is something that hasn’t been kept private, which is that heads of terms have been agreed between those two parties.”

As we reported, he added negotiations were continuing between Sisu and the Higgs charity over the fine print, and any agreement could be vetoed by the full council.