BURNLEY'S problem-plagued Contact Centre was today at the centre of a new row after officials forgot to put enough money aside to clean it.

Council bosses first came under fire in January last year when the cost increased to around £750,000, from an original estimate of just £250,000.

The unveiling of the former Abbey building in Parker Lane was then delayed from May until September. And then it was claimed desks were too low for staff and customers.

Now officials have asked the local authority to release £20,000 after underestimating the cleaning bill. Tory councillor Peter Doyle labelled the move: "The latest in a saga of mess-ups".

But council leader Stuart Caddy hit back.

He said: "For the last three months these proposals have been on the table and nobody has raised any objections.

"This is an absolutely valuable service. Unfortunately the additional cleaning with regard to the upstairs of the building hadn't been taken into account.

"We need the provision. It was just an error that was missed in the first proposal."

Contact Burnley was hailed as an "exciting new initiative" by Coun Caddy when it eventually opened last year.

Contact Burnley provides a single contact point for residents to access council services and pay their bills, as well as picking up help and advice.

Coun Doyle added: "As far as I can see it would appear that when the budget was put together the cleaning budget was insufficient and so this year we've had to put in an additional £20,000.

"I just find it incredible. Surely something as simple as this should have been sorted out at the very beginning. It shouldn't just come up as a surprise to everyone a few months down the line.

"It's just been one thing after another."

The overspend in the initial cost of the centre was blamed on discrepancies in the pricing estimates, and the actual cost of delivering the project.

Coun Gordon Birtwistle, Liberal Democrat, said: "We were astonished to see this latest news. At this late stage needing another £20,000 for cleaning the centre is amazing.

"The Contact Centre has just got off the ground and now they find out they've not got enough cleaners. Surely when they took on the project they should have looked into how much it cost to clean the building properly."

Nick Aves, Director or Resources at Burnley Council, said the centre had so far been a resounding success and had successfully dealt with almost 250,000 people.

He said: "When it opened in the middle of the financial year, it was agreed that the running costs would be met from existing budgets but this would be reviewed at the end of the year.

"The outcome of this review was that there would need to be additional money spent on cleaning and caretaking to ensure that high standards are maintained."

"There are still challenges ahead, but the centre will continue to go from strength to strength."