Hush-hush: Council keeps higher rival bid quiet as Cobblers deal approved
WNC could now face legal action over its handling of the deal
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By Natalie Bloomer
West Northamptonshire Council’s cabinet last night voted to accept an offer from CDNL (a subsidiary of Northampton Town Football Club) for land next to the Sixfields stadium.
However, despite the council leader Jonathan Nunn claiming there had been an “incredibly open” debate over the deal, there was no mention at all of a much higher bid being received by rival company Cilldara.
Until the end of last week both Cilldara and CDNL were offering £2m for the land which the council owns and the football club leases parts of. Both had various conditions attached to each bid. But on Friday NN Journal exclusively revealed that Cilldara had increased its offer to £3m with a 10 year overage clause of 25 per cent.
Although we’d been passed this information from a reliable source we repeatedly asked the council to confirm it was correct. We continued to do so until hours before the cabinet meeting yesterday. All we were told by a press officer was that if a higher offer had been submitted they ‘suspected’ it would be discussed at the meeting.
Last night NN Journal was passed the offer letter sent to WNC on Friday by Cilldara. We have also seen an email from council officer Simon Bowers confirming the letter had been received and seen by officers.