New rules to stop leaks at council

NEW rules have controversially been imposed in Wiltshire to stop councillors leaking confidential information to the press and public after it emerged the authority was to pay a car park owner £2.5 million to demolish it.

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The action follows the leak of commercially sensitive information concerning the transfer of ownership of the St Stephen’s car park in Trowbridge to a property developer.

While the decision to transfer ownership had been made in public, the financial implications of the deal - that Wiltshire Council was prepared to pay Castle Place shopping centre owner Tahir Ali up to £2.5 million to demolish the ageing car park and build new homes and leisure facilities on the site - was supposed to remain secret.

However, copies of the briefing documents were published anonymously on Facebook last Monday night.