West Norfolk Council's chief of staff Emma Hodds warned Tom Ryves, its member for Methwold, after he e-mailed members amid the ongoing debacle over beach huts on council-owned land at Heacham, near Hunstanton.

"I would like to remind you that such information should not be shared outside the organisation," she said. "And I ask that you exercise appropriate discretion in this regard."

Messages given to the EDP show Alistair Beales, the authority's leader, then weighed in on Friday stating he was "seriously disappointed and very concerned".

Councillor Tom Ryves (Image: Tom Ryves)

"Tom, you need to stop this immediately please," he said. "This is a serious breach of confidentiality with potentially serious financial damage to the council and hence our community.

"You are currently the chair of audit and should know better. Much better."

Mr Ryves responded: "Eh? This is info published by the council under FOI.

 "I suggest you vent your displeasure on whoever decided to release this into the public domain, who clearly decided it was not commercially-sensitive."

The information had already been released to beach hut owners after they submitted a request to the council for information regarding valuations for the beach hut site at Heacham North Beach, before it decided to stop exploring selling off the site after a backlash from angry villagers.

West Norfolk council leader Alistair Beales (Image: Supplied)

It yielded an e-mail sent by an auctioneer last September suggesting the site could be worth between £475,000 and £500,000, suggesting interest from buyers would be "crystalised" if the council's 100 tenants owning huts on the site had their 10-year leases replaced by annual licences.

Mr Ryves said the person who supplied the documents, which also contained an e-mail discussing what other council-owned sites may fetch at auction, had requested it be shared with councillors.

Mr Beales said: "The sensitive information relates to other assets and if you did not realise because you didn’t read through what you sent first, then that is simply not good enough."

Mr Ryves described his e-mail as "very sanctimonious", adding: "It shocks me that you conclude by stating that it is not immediately apparent the info I released derived from FOI, as I stated this and gave the reference."

As the pair traded blows online, he suggested Mr Beales speak to the council's lawyer, James Arrandale.

The beach huts which have been at the centre of a row in Heacham after it emerged the council was considering selling the site (Image: Chris Bishop)

"Instead of stumbling around making  blind accusations you should perhaps get some proper advice on exactly how FOI operates.

"Sometimes it is a good idea to recognise that digging a deeper hole is a poor strategy."

Mr Beales had earlier demanded the source of the information Mr Ryves had sent to councillors, adding he could submit his own FOI request.

In an e-mail sent on Friday, Heacham councillor Terry Parish said: "All the attachments which Cllr Ryves emailed came to him, as they did to me, from a resident who made a successful FOI.

"I am assured that all have been made available to the press. I am aware that not all councillors read the press and so it seems reasonable to inform them."

Heacham Councillor Terry Parish (Image: Supplied)

He said he had also received an e-mail from a beach hut owner who felt "forced to shift heavy sleepers and a large hut from her site due to the bullying nature of the letter she received from council officers".

Hut owners were told if they did not accept the new terms the council was offering them by March 31, they should remove their properties from the site.

Mr Parish added the beach huts had descended into "an awful, unnecessary, mess" brought about by officers with the support of the council's deputy leader Simon Ring.

He said the council should withdraw the letters to tenants scrapping their leases and have a meeting, warning: "Otherwise, it will not end well, and the press will have a project to get their teeth into which will have considerable public interest."

© Eastern Daily Press