Councillor Mark Harris, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council, has described the final costs of the South Leeds Stadium as "a damning indictment of Labour Councillors interference in Capital Projects over the years". After years of disputes over the cost of alterations to the original plans the final bill for the Stadium has reached over £12 million, compared with the original cost of £4.2 million, an overrun of £7.875 million or 188%, figures that are formally being reported to the meeting of the Executive Board on the 11th February.
Cllr Harris said :- "The decision to make changes to the original contract specification lie at the heart of this whole problem, and appear to have come about as a result of political interference in the design and construction procedure - a problem which seems to have been rife throughout the Labour administrations of the time. We have already had the well documented saga of Landmark Leeds, as well as the decision by their own Government to strip Labour Leeds of their education responsibilities because of their political interference. I have therefore instituted an enquiry by the Council's Internal Audit Division to find out exactly why the original problems occurred, and why the Council managed to run up such massive legal fees. I will also be asking our Scrutiny Boards to look at the whole issue and make recommendations as to how we can avoid any further such debacles.
"Amazingly the current Labour Group still defends political interference in the day to day running of services, wanting to maintain Councillor involvement in management decisions regarding personnel matters, as well as wanting to include Councillor representation on the Board of Education Leeds.
"This interference has cost the Council nearly £8 million, money which could have been spent on improving homes across the City, or refurbishing Community Centres and Schools, or repairing roads across the City. To raise £8 million would cost Council Tax Payers an additional 4% on their bills, around an extra £35 for the average Band D property."
The story of the construction of the South Leeds Stadium started back in 1994 when the Council awarded a contract to builders to undertake the work. Records show that after the award of the contract Councillors sitting on the Development Services Group Committee met three times to approve additional works during the initial contract period of thirty six weeks. After the work was completed in November 1995 there was a dispute between the contractors and the Council on the final cost, with particular regard to the additional costs caused by the intervention of the Council.
That dispute went to formal arbitration which took several years and eventually headed for the Courts. The Arbitration awarded the Contractors an additional sum of £2.4 million, but following legal advice the Council decided to challenge this award through the Courts. The Council has, as a result of further legal advice, now settled out of Court and therefore had to pay its own legal fees as well as two thirds of the legal fees of the contractors. The Council's own fees were £3.092 million, and the amount paid to the contractors to cover legal fees was £2.15 million.
