Delegated Land Disposals: Lappin Authority, Fitton Estates Instructions, and Valuer Panel
Submitted to
Sefton Borough Council
Response due
18 June 2026
Response received
14 July 2026
Council ref: 19967633|Signed by: Susan Crompton, Team Leader - Property Services
What we asked
Filed following research into a 999-year lease granted to EFT Group Ltd on public land at Southport Business Park with no capital receipt, appraised by Fitton Estates. Five-part request covering: delegated disposal list, valuation standards, all Fitton Estates instructions, valuer panel membership, and oversight mechanisms. Response received 14 July 2026, 26 days late, signed by Susan Crompton (Team Leader Property Services). Reclassified under EIR rather than FOIA. Request 1 (disposal list) withheld under Reg 6(1)(b) EIR — claimed already publicly accessible via ModGov — but a compiled list is not easily accessible in the format requested. Requests 2, 3, 4 and 5 received no response whatsoever: no answer, no exemption, no public interest test. Requests 3 and 4 (all Fitton Estates instructions and valuer panel membership) are the most sensitive and the most completely ignored. Internal review being filed on all five grounds.
View on WhatDoTheyKnowWhat they said
Partial refusal under EIR. Request 1 withheld under Reg 6(1)(b) (claimed publicly accessible via ModGov). Requests 2, 3, 4 and 5 not addressed at all — no answer, no exception, no public interest test. The response closes the request without engaging with four of the five questions.
What this means
The council reclassified this FOI as an EIR request. Land disposals can fall under EIR as environmental information relating to measures affecting land. This does not materially change the substantive obligations — information must still be provided or a valid exception applied with a public interest test.
Request 1 (list of all delegated disposal decisions 2022 to date): The council confirms it holds this information but withholds it under Reg 6(1)(b) EIR, directing SIBA to two ModGov links. Reg 6(1)(b) requires the information to be 'easily accessible' to the applicant. A compiled list of all delegated disposal decisions across four years is not easily accessible from individual ModGov decision notices. The applicant would need to manually search hundreds of records to reconstruct what the council holds as a single list. The exception is not properly applied.
Request 2 (valuation standards for no-capital-receipt disposals, including whether Red Book RICS valuations were obtained): Not answered. No exception cited. No public interest test. The question of whether the council obtained proper independent valuations before granting leases at nil capital receipt is a central governance question. Its absence from the response is notable.
Request 3 (all instructions to Fitton Estates since January 2018, including fees paid): Not answered. No exception cited. Fitton Estates appraised the EFT Group land disposal at nil value using a methodology that has not been publicly tested. The full history of council instructions to Fitton Estates — including fees — goes to whether that relationship is properly managed.
Request 4 (whether a formal valuer panel exists and whether Fitton Estates is on it): Not answered. No exception cited. If Fitton Estates was used as an independent appraiser without being on a formally approved panel, that is a procurement and governance question.
Request 5 (oversight mechanism for delegated disposal decisions): Not answered. No exception cited. The question of whether Overview and Scrutiny reviews delegated disposal decisions before or after they take effect goes to whether the council's governance framework adequately covers this function.
The response was 26 days past the statutory deadline. No extension notice was issued. The same officer (Susan Crompton, Team Leader Property Services) signed both this response and the SP-17 Savills response on 13-14 July 2026.
Documents
Response letter (14 July 2026)