LESSONS must be learnt from a failed attempt by Craven District Council to acquire investment property - believed to be Burnsall Green car park - said councillors.

A shortage of time was blamed on the leader and deputy leader having to proceed with negotiations, rather than it being discussed first by the council's policy committee.

In the end, a non binding expression of interest was submitted for the property which was rejected as not high enough, and the car park has now been sold in the region of £350,000.

At the Policy Committee meeting, Cllr Richard Foster (Cons) said it was not an acceptable situation and that the council needed to be able to move more quickly in future.

"Whether members would have gone for it is another matter, but we do need to move on these things sooner so that members can have a say. We have a committee system, and not a cabinet system," he said.

Director of services, Paul Ellis, said officers had known about the sale for three or four weeks from an article in the Craven Herald. They had talked to ward members and put together a business case and that the intention had been to present it to Policy Committee but it had not been possible within the time constraints.

Deputy leader Cllr Patrick Mulligan (Cons)said he wanted to reassure members that it had not been an easy decision meeting and at the end of it, it had been decided to submit an expression of interest, and not a bid.

"We do need to find a way to react to the market when situations like this arise," he said. Cllr Richard Welch (Cons) said he could see no problem in such a decision being made by senior councillors.

"I'm quite happy to leave it to relevant officers and the leader. The less people that know about it, the less chance it's got of getting into the press," he said.

But Cllr Phillip Barrett (Ind) said the council needed to be open and transparent when deciding on how to spend public money.

"We can't just ignore our procedures to get a quick decision. We are dealing with public money, and we need to be open and transparent."

Cllr Foster said it was a new situation for the council and it needed to learn how to work more in the private sector.

'I won't say it was a mistake, but it was a shame we didn't get it," he said.

Chief executive, Paul Shevlin, told members they needed to be clear on which direction they wanted the council to move, whether they wanted it to be a commercial council and if they wanted to seek out investment opportunities.

The sale of the picturesque 70 space car park at Burnsall Green attracted a great deal of interest, say vendors Westlake and Co. In the end, just four tenders were received with the successful bid coming from a local person.

Westlakes say the car park was sold around the guide price of £350,000.