FURTHER indications of appalling project handling by the town hall this week following another pay-out from the public purse.

I refer of course to the latest news issued from the town hall concerning the final agreed cost of Salt Ayre phase II (swimming pool/leisure complex) with the main contractor, Birse Construction, in which an additional payment of £1.29 million on top of the tender sum of circa £5.2 million will come from the public purse (a 25 per cent increase?)

Our acting chief executive, David Corker informs us that, "During the construction phase there were a number of unforeseen problems particularly with ground water."

What he has failed to tell us is that structural engineers were commissioned to provide a full service which included a site investigation report - why did this fail to identify the groundwater in the tender documents? Or if it did identify the problem what was done about it? Precious little it seems.

Also within the tender documents I understand the consultant surveyors included sums for unforeseen circumstances i.e. contingencies of around £300k.

There are many questions of public accountability that need to be raised regarding the management of this project from its inception. An independent inquiry is the appropriate method if the purpose is to get to the truth and ensure such overspends are not repeated at the town hall.

Like previous financial disasters such as Blobbygate the most significant question that needs to be asked is were the elected members kept fully informed of the spending situation throughout the contract?

Public servant

Lancaster

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.