THURROCK Council has an £11million bill for consultants involved in plans to build a new £9million Stanford-le-Hope station, it has been revealed.
The council is about to push ahead with the first phase of the project to rebuild the station to the east of London Road.
The second phase will focus on a “transport hub” on the opposite side of London Road. This will provide bus and taxi access, along with improved car parking and cycle storage.
The council recently announced a further £10million for the project on top of the £11million it had already earmarked for the scheme.
At a full council meeting on Wednesday, Gary Byrne, Thurrock Independent councillor for The Homesteads, revealed that initial outlay had gone on consultant fees.
Calling on Mark Coxshall, councillor responsible for regeneration, strategic planning and external relationships, to explain the consultants’ windfall, he said: “Can you explain how it is possible to spend a mind blowing £11million on consultants and other fees to build a £9.6million station.
“That’s more than the actual build itself and you are actually delivering less facilities. How can you possibly spend more money on consultants than the actual building?”
Mr Coxshall said the enormous fees were out of the council’s hands.
He said: “It annoys me as a Conservative and it does frustrate me that professional fees are going through the roof. We need to sort these planning bills out and planning acts out.
“The council is no different to any other business. if you look at the costs of these professional fees on these sites, whether it’s a public building or private building. they are too high.
“Professional fees are too high but that’s because of the system we have to go through and the hoops we have to jump for every public body and I’m glad this Government is looking at that with the planning act. Part of that is to remove and reduce the burden of proffessional fees and get more money spent on buildings.”
The project was halted last year due to major issues relating to design and affordability. Since then it has been redesigned and will now include a wider platform, a complete redevelopment of the station forecourt and the construction of a new footbridge.
With plans for the transport hub still being discussed, the council decided to move ahead with the station first to prevent further delays for the long-awaited station.
What a joke
This is out of order of tax payers money how can Consultants cost be so high when nothing has been done just drawings
Surely the council agreed these costs before they were incurred, how can Cockshall say he is as annoyed as anyone else. This council is appalling, over £10 million on a new council entrance that nobody wants and nearly £20 million on a station that did the job perfectly well and all the time closing our theatre and cutting back on facilities and staff.