County in crisis
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Two years ago Conservative-run Dorset County Council decided to build a new secondary school for Wimborne. It was meant to cost £35 million with £31 million coming from the Government and £4 million from the County.
But County failed to get the building contract signed and the contractor was taken over by another firm.
After a year of wrangling, building costs have soared to over £50 million. The Government will not provide any more money, so the County now has to find at least another £15 million!
Bridport Cllr Karl Wallace is pressing the County Council to honour their promise to rebuild Mountjoy School
Even before this new crisis Dorset County Council had admitted there was an £87 million backlog of repairs – and that the backlog was growing.
After recent losses when are vital repairs to school buildings ever going to happen?
Also, what about the future of Mountjoy School? County promised to rebuild it years ago, but still nothing has happened. Now there is yet another review!
Last winter the coast road was closed for months for resurfacing causing considerable inconvenience. Just a year later the same is happening again! The new road surface has crumbled in near record time. Not only will the cost run to tens of thousands of pounds but staff have been moved from other jobs all over the area to get this done – putting a whole series of other repairs behind schedule.
