Opposition councillors have failed in a bid to force a review of why council developments in Dundee are going over budget.
Bailie Kevin Keenan, leader of the Labour group on Dundee City Council, had called on chief executive David Martin to “engage a consultant” to review how the McClelland Report was being implemented across the local authority in the wake of last week’s announcement of the “rocketing” cost of building a sports centre in Caird Park.
As reported in last week’s Courier, an extra £12.5 million will have to be found to build the contentious Regional Performance Centre for Sport (RPCS) at Caird Park.
Fergus Wilson, head of design and property services, detailed to councillors how market forces, inflation and a weakened currency had contributed to the stark increase to the project.
He said: “There has been a substantial change to the scope of the project as it progressed.
“The £12.525 million increase includes £5 million which will be required to complete the energy centre with district heating capability.
“An additional £300,000 will be spent on sport equipment and furniture.
“Inflation and different market conditions from when the project was first announced have also been taken into account.”
Mr Keenan said: “It really concerns me to see this increase of over £12 million to build the RPCS.
“This amount could cover the cost of building a new primary school.
“Colleagues have also said they may have considered voting differently when the vote was held to approve building the centre if they had been aware about how much more it was going to cost.
“Given the level of public interest and objection regarding the project, it leaves a bad taste to see the project spiralling out of control.
“We need to look at how the McClelland report is being implemented across the council.”
SNP administration leader and policy and resources committee convener, councillor John Alexander, said a full report would be brought before the committee in due course, but noted Mr Keenan’s comments regarding council projects “always” exceeding their budgets “unhelpful” and “untrue”.
All members of the Labour group backed Mr Keenan’s original motion, which was tabled as an amendment prior to voting. It was defeated by 16 votes to 11.
The independent McClelland report was published in 2015 after the cost of building the V&A museum on the waterfront almost doubled to £80m.