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Alison Lowton
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‘Eyebrow-raising’ pay-off figure is kept hush hush
Town Hall refuses to reveal former legal chief’s golden settlement
THE Town Hall is desperate to keep secret the amount of redundancy money paid to its former chief lawyer Alison Lowton amid speculation that the cost would shock the public.
Insiders have claimed that Ms Lowton’s severance pay-off is a six-figure sum but council chiefs are adamant the true cost must be kept under wraps.
Ms Lowton signed an agreement on her departure that gagged both sides from revealing details of her settlement. One council source said: “It is a figure that has caused a lot of people to raise their eyebrows. People would be surprised.”
Even though her pay-off comes out of the public purse, the council’s legal department said on Monday, it would cause her “unnecessary damage” to release the figure.
Ms Lowton officially took ‘early retirement’ at the age of 54 last October but her position had already been deleted in Camden’s cost-cutting drive.
She has since taken a three-month contract with the local authority on the Isle of Wight. The New Journal asked the council for details of Ms Lowton’s severance agreement under the Freedom of Information Act.
Figures already in the public domain show that £1.5 million of council funds have been cleared to pay off staff that leave the Town Hall under a sweeping cuts programme.
Specific details surrounding Ms Lowton’s sudden exit, however, remain under lock and key.
Council lawyers rejected the FoI request after going to the extent of researching demands for similar information submitted to other local authorities. Reporters have appealed against the refusal.
The council’s response said: “In the council’s view, disclosure of the information would likely prejudice Ms Lowton’s legitimate interests and would likely cause unnecessary and unjustified distress and damage to Ms Lowton.”
Officials said they had balanced their decision against public concern for how their taxes are spent and Ms Lowton’s senior position at the Town Hall.
The response added: “The information requested is the subject of a contractual arrangement between the council and Ms Lowton. That agreement contains a confidentiality clause; the agreement is binding on both parties and the council believes that disclosure of the information would likely render it liable to an action for breach of confidentiality and contract.”
Ms Lowton was dragged into the controversy surrounding a Standards Board investigation into Labour councillor Brian Woodrow, the Town Hall’s former planning chairman vindicated of bias against the redevelopment of King’s Cross.
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