Will we ever get our Civic?

It is now five years since the Civic closed its doors for the last time. The costs of building a new Civic get ever higher while the wait for it to be built gets ever longer.

When the Conservatives proposed the latest version of the Civic, we were told it would cost a total of £19.5 million including consultants fees and other related costs and in August 2006 the Council agreed that amount. Just before the Council sought a developer to build the Civic, members were told that the costs had gone up and agreed to increase funding to £24 million. Now the cost is being quoted as £26 million but at the Executive last week neither the Council Leader or the Chief Executive would promise that it won't rise any higher.

At the same time as the costs have been getting so far out of control, the developments which were to fund the building have failed to materialise. Since the idea of building a new Civic was put forward at the beginning of this century, the Council's land at Bedford Road was to be used to provide part of the funds. Initially, the tender was for one project to cover both sites, removing the need for a separate sale at Bedford Road. Once the decision was made to sell the land separately, the Council should have got on with its plans for that development so that the sale could take place while the market was still buoyant. As it is, nothing has been done and the market has crashed. Planning permission has yet to be given to establish the value of the site.

Meanwhile, the residents of Guildford have been waiting for the building of the Friary Extension, including modernising the bus station. Despite assurances from the Council on numerous occasions that the developers were anxious to start work, still nothing has happened and the money from that development which was to help fund the Civic has not been forthcoming.

Now the Council's Conservative Executive has gone to the government for funding to make up the shortfall but with no certainty that the £10M they have asked for will be made available. When he spoke on local radio recently, the Council Leader suggested that if the government funding is not forthcoming, the Council could borrow the money or seek partners for the development. Neither of those options appear in the report to the Executive last Thursday and no information has been provided showing what the implications would be for Guildford residents who have to foot the bill at the end of the project.

Since 2003, when the Conservatives took over running the Council, they have spent more than £2.1 million on consultants fees on the Civic project alone and all we have to show for it is a fence around the site.