Why it matters: The project to refurbish the first floor of the former Grimwades store on Ipswich's Cornhill was listed in exempt items for Tuesday's borough council executive meeting, meaning the public and press were excluded from hearing the details.
The details: The £800,000 figure reported by the BBC is likely to include £560,000 from the council's Towns Fund budget, with the remainder funded through another budget.
Speaking to the BBC, Councillor Ian Fisher, Conservative opposition leader at the Labour-run council, said other options should have been considered.
"It could be that if it was put out to tender, and lots of people put their names in the hat and lots of companies made offers, that the adult learning centre came out on top," he told the BBC. "But nobody did, because nobody had the opportunity."
However, Cllr Fisher said it was not in doubt that the adult learning centre would be beneficial for the town, but questioned if this was "really the best thing that we can find for one of the landmark buildings in the town centre?"
The council's response: The council said it was "unable to provide comment on this matter because it relates to information that is commercially sensitive".
A spokesperson said: "Local authorities have a legal duty to protect confidential and commercially sensitive material where its release could prejudice the commercial interests of the council or third parties, undermine ongoing negotiations, or compromise the integrity of procurement or contractual processes.
"For these reasons, certain reports, discussions, and decisions must be considered in a private session and cannot be shared publicly."
It is understood that the new adult learning centre will be run by Suffolk New College.
For context: The money to carry out the refurbishments has been allocated from Ipswich Borough Council's £25 million Towns Fund, according to a report to the executive. The Towns Fund was money given to the council by central government in 2020 to support regeneration.
The Grimwades building had been empty since 2012. The council acquired the building last year, and since then, the Jamaica Blue restaurant has opened on the ground floor with outdoor seating, with Lovisa due to move into the remaining commercial ground floor unit in the coming months.
The bottom line: While the adult learning centre will likely be welcomed as beneficial for the town, questions remain about whether the closed-door decision-making process prevented other alternatives from being explored for one of Ipswich's landmark buildings.
