Stockport Labour Group has slammed the Lib Dems’ mismanagement of the Dialstone Centre and Blackstone Fields development in Offerton after it was revealed that the Council is set to provide £750,000 to bailout the development.
Since agreeing a £5.3m deal and appointing a developer in October 2010, Stockport Lib Dems have presided over delays and rocketing costs as the much needed regeneration project has been beset with problems.
Now the Council is suggesting that a £750,000 bailout is given to deliver a redesigned version of the original plans after developers THi Riverside Ltd informed them in November 2012 that the current plans were not viable. Other costs have increased and deadlines have been missed throughout the development of the project.
The regeneration project will see around 90 homes built on the Dialstone site, an 80-bed care home, a community centre named after local Olympic hero Alan Newton, a sports hall, library, medical centre, pharmacy and 5-a-side football pitches built on Blackstone Fields. However 56 apartments that had been planned for the site will no longer be built as the developer scales down the development.
The Council report states that completing the revised development with the developer could cost £750,000. The report also states that if the Council were to deliver the project themselves then the cost would be £600,000. However, the report recommends that the developer is retained as the costs of removing the developer could be very high and completing the project independently opens the Council up to higher financial risks than retaining the developer.
The shocking extra cost has emerged in a Council report that will be debated at the Corporate, Resource Management and Governance Scrutiny Committee on 11th March.
Leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Andy Verdeille, commented on the development chaos: “The spiralling cost of this much needed regeneration in Offerton shows just how poor the Lib Dems’ management of the entire project has been. Labour councillors have consistently warned the Council about the problems with their plans and I am sad to say that we’ve been proven right.
“We want to see this area of Offerton regenerated. Local people need the new facilities that will be built and Stockport needs the extra housing that is part of the development. If the Lib Dems approve the bailout we will continue to scrutinise how they spend taxpayers’ money like hawks.
Offerton ward councillor, Cllr Laura Booth, said: “The new library, sports centre and the Alan Newton Community Centre are desperately needed in this area of my ward. We warned the Lib Dems all along that the cost of cleaning up the land was much higher than they budgeted for, but they wouldn’t listen. The developer has now changed the plans precisely because the cost of cleaning up the land is too high for them to make the development viable.
“The Lib Dems found the £5m they needed to bailout Solutions SK, so I hope they approve the £750,000 needed to get this vital regeneration project off the ground.”