Council chiefs to face questions over £2.6m bill for swimming pool ‘blunder’

A decision to pay a developer to complete works to ensure Featherstone Sports Complex and Featherstone Academy stay open has been ‘called in’ by a scrutiny committee.

Councillors on the committee want more information as they seek to hold senior figures to account over the costly incident.

Orion Homes are building houses next to the leisure centre on land bought from the council.

In April last year, tanks and a drainage area which serve the leisure centre and swimming pool were discovered on the construction site.

Orion informed the council that they planned to remove them.

A full survey then revealed that the site also contains gas and water mains pipes which serve the school, leisure centre and swimming pool.

The council has so far spent more than £500,000 on a “temporary drainage solution”.

At a meeting on January 17, the council’s cabinet agreed to pay Orion £1.2m to carry out “rectification works” on the site.

The costs are expected to be funded by borrowing, with estimated interest charges of £57,000 a year.

Over 25 years, the total additional costs to the council are expected to be around £2.6m.

The council’s climate change and environmental wellbeing overview and scrutiny committee has taken the rare step of ‘calling in’ the cabinet decision.

Council leader Denise Jeffery, who is also interim portfolio holder for regeneration, property and economic growth, and three senior officers have been invited to attend a meeting on Monday (February 6) to answer questions from committee members.

The committee has the option of referring the original decision back to cabinet for reconsideration, setting their concerns out in writing.

A report states: “A key function of overview and scrutiny is to hold the executive/cabinet to account for the discharge of its functions.

“One of the principal elements of this is the scrutinising of decisions taken by cabinet.”

Four members of the committee have requested the call-in on a number of grounds.

It is claimed the decision was taken without the scrutiny committee having the opportunity to consider evidence and contribute draft proposals.

They also want more information from Yorkshire Water and further details in relation to the original planning application which led to Orion being given permission to build 34 homes on the site.

The report also states: “More information is required regarding the size of the proposed approved development being larger in area than the land sold to the developer by Wakefield Council on April 8, 2022.

“Does this indicate Wakefield Council and Orion Homes are joint owners of the development land?”

Coun Jeffery has already asked the council’s chief executive, Andrew Balchin, to carry out an investigation.

When questioned about the issue by opposition councillors at a full council meeting two weeks ago, Coun Jeffery said: “It is not acceptable and it does need to be looked into properly, then we will come back here.

“Somebody will be accountable, I assure you of that.”