Cost increases see ‘legacy projects’ delayed in Chatteris, March, Whittlesey, Wimblington and Wisbech
A number of ‘legacy’ projects for the Fenland area have been put on the backburner after ‘significant’ cost increases.
A report published by Fenland District Council said estimated costs had increased from £30million to more than £43million.
The district council’s cabinet said these cost increases and uncertainty over whether the council will be abolished meant it had to prioritise what projects to take forward at this stage.
Earlier this year, the authority set out a number of projects it wanted to push ahead with before local government reorganisation is implemented.
The government announced plans to change the way local government looks in Cambridgeshire, by moving to larger unitary authorities, rather than having a county council and district councils.
Cllr Chris Boden, leader of the district council, said councillors had been concerned a number of Fenland projects could be “lost” if the authority did not “take action”.
The district council set out 15 projects it planned to do as part of its Fenland Inspire! programme, and agreed to add a contingency sum of £30m over the next three years into its budget planning for the projects.
These projects included:
New Wisbech Park bowls green;
Wisbech Park Splash Pad improvements;
Wisbech 11/12 High Street development;
Wisbech Chapel building improvements;
Wisbech floodlighting for Clarkson Memorial and War Memorial;
Wisbech Park pathway improvements;
Leisure centre refurbishments;
New Chatteris swimming pool;
District-wide assessment of new play equipment;
New March Rugby Club HQ and pitches;
New March country park;
Whittlesey Monastery acquisition;
Whittlesey Manor field sustainable surface path;
New village green for Wimblington;
Civil parking enforcement.
Two further projects were later added at the instruction of the council leader, which were 3G pitches and St John’s Chapel, March. However, a report presented to a cabinet meeting on Monday said the budget needed for these projects had increased to £43m-plus.
The report added that this was not a definitive cost as it did not include the budget of projects for which a scope of works had not yet been determined. The cabinet said it recognised the “significant increase in the estimated costs” of the Fenland Inspire! programme.
It also said the timescale for local government reform was “not yet certain” and that “there is at present no certainty as to the date of (the district council’s) abolition”, adding that there was still a possibility local government reform may not go ahead.
The cabinet agreed that it was therefore “inappropriate to progress” all of the projects, and agreed to “suspend further work”, on all but 11 of the projects until a “comprehensive report” is presented at a future cabinet meeting.
Councillors also asked officers to “keep careful watch for external funding opportunities for all projects”. The 11 projects that have been prioritised are:
Wisbech Park Splash Pad: phase one only;
Wisbech 11/12 High Street;
Manor Leisure Centre, Whittlesey;
Chatteris Leisure Centre condition survey work;
District-wide assessment: new play equipment;
New Village Green, Wimblington;
Civil Parking Enforcement;
St John’s Chapels, March;
New March Country Park: confirmation of land transfer agreement only;
3G pitches: preparing or submitting applications to the Football Foundation for external funding;
Clarkson Memorial lighting and planters.
Cllr Steve Tierney said: “I do think it is important that we are clear to people what this actually means, because it will be easy for them to think that we are not going to do some of these things, or that we were always going to do them, neither of which is the case.
“I think it is important that people understand that the reason Fenland Inspire! came about is because we had heard that the government was going to close down the council, and we wanted to leave a legacy after we had finished.
“That legacy was going to be essentially, I am simplifying it a bit here, but we were going to spend our savings, we were going to spend the money we had.
“We weren’t going to take it into the big new authority where it would get swallowed up by other councils’ debt, and instead we would attempt to spend Fenland people’s money in Fenland before it got eaten up elsewhere.
“That was the dream that inspired the Fenland Inspire! projects. But we can’t, and we never could, just rush ahead and spend all that money if the government is not going to close us down, and that is the uncertainty, the uncertainty is that we don’t absolutely know they are going to.”
He said he believed the change was a “good prudent approach”, even if some projects might “take a little longer”.