Cases - Mears Ltd v Leeds City Council

Record details

Name

Mears Ltd v Leeds City Council

Date

[2011]

Citation

EWHC 40 (QB)

Legislation

Public Contracts Regulations 2006

Keywords

Disclosure and public interest immunity - limited disclosure - special measures - disclosure to legal representatives only

Summary

The court ordered limited disclosure of model answers used by a local authority’s officers in evaluating tenders submitted. The test was whether disclosure and inspection were necessary to dispose fairly of proceedings. The court had to consider whether any special measure, like redaction or hearings in private, should be used. In this case the court ordered disclosure to legal representatives only.

For the purposes of the time limit for bringing challenges (under what is now the PCR 2006), the ‘date when grounds for the bringing of the proceedings first arose’ will depend on the nature of the claim.

The Court also confirmed that once court proceedings commenced, the duty of disclosure on a contracting authority was not limited to information required to be provided by it under the PCR 2006.