AN extraordinary full council meeting will take place next week after a High Court ruled Torridge District Council may be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to an auctioneers in Holsworthy, writes Daniel Clark, local democracy reporter.

The council had been taken to court by Kivells Limited, with a claim that they lost money because of an ineffective animal effluent treatment system at the new Holsworthy AgriBusiness Centre they lease from Torridge.

HHJ Jonathan Russen QC in his High Court judgement ruled in favour of Kivells.

The initial claim against Torridge was for approximately £1.1-million. No exact figure on the damages was agreed at the hearing and Judge Russen asked the two parties to come to an agreement over the figure. If they fail to do so, another court hearing will take place.

Next Monday night, an extraordinary full council meeting has been added to the calendar of meetings. An update on the recent legal case and judgement is the only item listed on the agenda and is set to take place in a closed session with the public and press excluded.

In a statement issued after the ruling, Torridge District Council’s senior solicitor, Staci Dorey, said that there were no winners in the case but that following independent legal advice they had little choice but to defend the case.

She said: “It saddens all of us to realise that such a positive asset — the new cattle market — in which over £7-million has been invested, is now the subject of such negative press. This was a flagship product and bespoke building design which was for the benefit of Kivells and the local community.

“It saddens us that despite such a significant investment, Kivells insisted on proceeding with a claim against Torridge. However it is important that taxpayers are made aware of the allegations made against the council and the justified defence we put forward.”

She said that the council had tried on numerous occasions to negotiate directly with Kivells and put forward settlement offers to avoid the need for court action, but that unfortunately none of the offers were accepted.

Mrs Dorey added: “We are not in favour of spending public money in such a manner and would not do so lightly, but following independent legal advice regrettably we had little choice but to defend the case. Had we not done so a greater sum of money would have been lost in settling a case where we did not feel the council was at fault.”

Kivells had asked for £1.1-million in damages to be awarded. The ruling said that installing a ‘minimal treatment plant’ for the site could cost Kivells £1,532 per week in trade effluent costs. Kivells were told they could recoup the costs from the council, plus money already spent on repairs, which over the lifespan of the 21-year lease means Torridge could be faced with a bill of £457,000.

The dispute between Kivells and Torridge surrounds the agreement that a ‘reed bed system’ was to be installed to take away effluent waste from the animals, but instead, an ‘activated sludge system’ was installed at a cheap cost.

Mrs Dorey said: “The council had offered to upgrade the system, at no charge to Kivells, which would have significantly reduced their claim. Kivells chose not to accept this upgrade. We are saddened that the upgrade was not accepted at the time the council offered it in 2016 as we feel that the whole claim could have been avoided, and would have been a sensible and pragmatic approach.

“The market will continue to serve the local farming and business community and maintain its status as a major contributor to the local economy both for jobs and commercial livestock trading.

“We appreciate that Kivells are an important element in the ongoing success, however the success could not have come without the significant support and investment by Torridge.  We are disappointed that Kivells did not seem to recognise this.

“We have a responsibility to ensure that the precious resources we have as a council are not unnecessarily diminished where we are justified in preventing this. The public would expect nothing less of us and that is why we had to defend this claim. We feel that there are no winners when it comes to litigation.”

The new £6-million Holsworthy Livestock Market in Holsworthy opened for business in September 2014 when the first market saw over 4,000 animals pass under the hammer.

Since trading began, the Holsworthy Livestock Market has seen a £2-million turnover increase, along with a ‘marked’ rise in the value and numbers of livestock passing through the pens each week.

The numbers of calves and stirks being sold at the market have increased by 2,000-head per year since 2014, with store cattle up by 3,500-head, fat sheep by 7,000-head, store sheep by 4,500-head and cull ewes by 3,500-head.

The Post contacted Kivells for a comment.