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TAXPAYERS SPARED MAJOR REFURBISHMENT TO THE GRANGE

Taxpayers have cause to be grateful to the efforts of Conservative District Councillors, John Humphreys, and Fred Brown for the enormous effort that they have put into assisting Council Officers cut refurbishment costs to the crumbling Victorian HQ of East Cambridgeshire District Council.  Thanks to them, the initial £2.6 million estimate for repairs to The Grange has been slashed to £280,000.

The original sum of £2.6 million, was recommended by surveyors after the Liberal Democrats vetoed advanced cost saving plans to move out of The Grange last year. 
Since the plan to move collapsed, The Conservative Group has been dogged in its determination to ensure that as little as possible of taxpayers money would be spent on ‘Saving the Grange’ which expert opinion confirms can never be fit for purpose and will be an intolerable drain on taxpayers in perpetuity.

Speaking after the meeting Conservative Group leader, Cllr Brian Ashton said “Any money spent on repairs to The Grange is pure waste, but as we are now obliged to stay, legally required work must be carried out.”

Instead of the original £2.6 million spend, the Council has agreed to pay just £280,000 on essential modifications and maintenance work to keep the premises ‘legal’ up until 2009.  The meeting of members of the Council’s Policy and Resources Committee (July 25th) were warned that by then the situation would be critical and they must expect “significant financial implications.”  Faced with the prospect of future bills of over £1 million the committee agreed that the situation should be reviewed in December 2007.

Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, Cllr Ashton said, “No amount of expenditure on The Grange HQ will render this building fit for purpose and it will be a drain on the tax payer for years to come with no advantages whatsoever. Not a penny of value will be added to the building either now or in the future and we will be using money that can never be recouped. The annual cost is already similar to this year’s Council Tax increase and the future costs will be greater still”