AN independent investigation has found Wirral Council acted legally in its repossession of land used by a community pony club.

But it partially upholds a complaint that the authority did not advise the club of  its decision to sell the land in a timely fashion "which led to an unfortunate sequence of events."

The inquiry, by data watchdog the Information Commissioner, also agreed the authority should have told the club to seek professional advice as soon as the decision to sell had been reached.

Demands for a probe followed an admission earlier this year that senior officials were ordered not to negotiate over the lease of Fernbank Farm in Moreton.

The sale caused an outcry and 1,500 people signed protest petitions.

Ian Lewis, who was a councillor at the time, demanded the commissioner should review the case when Upton Park Pony Association lost its battle to prevent the ten-acre plot being repossessed and sold-off for redevelopment.

The site had been leased to the association for more than 40 years, but the cash-strapped council wanted it back to raise capital.

A judge allowed Wirral Council to repossess the land - which could be worth up to £5m if sold for housing - after a four-hour hearing at Birkenhead County Court in February. 

It had been suggested the authority had acted dishonestly and ‘told lies’ to the club in order to deliver "a hidden agenda" of seeking possession of the land.

The inquiry report said the commissioner was satisfied the council did not set out to be dishonest and a series of events, including financial issues, led to the decision to seek re-possession of the site in order to dispose of it.

Mr Lewis told the Globe the report "blew open the ways in which senior managers in the town hall conspired to deceive in order to evict the tenants of Fernbank Farm."

He said: "By pretending they were following practices that may exist in the private sector, these managers have forgotten that they are in fact public servants.   

"No doubt the town hall will pledge to ‘learn lessons’, as they always do when wrongdoing has been uncovered.  

“It is not good enough for the managers responsible to say they were simply ‘following orders’ – we’ve heard that before and we should be told who gave the order to behave in such an underhand and devious manner."

However council chief executive Graham Burgess said: “We are satisfied that a further and independent investigation into complaints made by the members of the Fernbank Farm club has again found that the council acted legally throughout possession proceedings.

“This has been a difficult process for all sides and we apologise for the distress that has been caused to club members as a result.

“Unfortunately, the critical financial situation the council is in as a result of the ongoing cuts in central Government grant meant that we have had to find ways of realising the value of some of our land and assets. 

"The Fernbank site is one of the three most valuable council-owned development sites in the borough and it is important now that development restrictions have been lifted that we seek to realise the value of the land.

"We remain committed to working with the club to identify a suitable alternative site for their activities and the club is able to continue to occupy Fernbank until February 2015 in order to give both sides enough time to establish the most appropriate alternative.”