At last night’s Isle of Wight council Cabinet meeting there was a call for a public inquiry into the failures to construct Cowes Enterprise site to the originally intended schedule.
It was based on details first brought to light by On The Wight commentor “y’s 1”, in their comment at the end of October 2012.
Work on Cowes project stopped due to dispute
The company that the council charged with constructing Cowes Enterprise College, Pihl UK Ltd, fell out in such a large way with one of their subcontractors (Rambold), that they not only ended up in legal battles, but the subcontractor suspended work on the project on 25 October, 2011.
This spat rumbled on through various legal actions until it was finally resolved on 29th August, 2012 at Scotland’s supreme civil court, The Court of Session.
Public question rebuffed
At the Isle of Wight council Cabinet last night, Matthew Martin asked during public question time, if the council was aware of the legal dispute.
Cllr Pugh, the Chair of the meeting, passed the question over to Cllr George Brown, who, despite the head of legal services, strategic director, and chief executive of the council being present, chose not to answer the seemingly simple question, instead responding, “That is a question which I’m afraid I must respond to you in writing.”
Call for public inquiry
Matthew Martin, then asked, “As a concerned member of the public, will the council grant a similar public inquiry to the one that was held over the Undercliff road development of 2006, to investigate the failures to construct the new Eco-friendly building at Cowes Enterprise site to the originally intended schedule?”
Cllr Brown responded, “Very substantial work is going on at present looking into the whole history of the contract and the elements that cause concern to the council. That investigation will take some time still. When we have a reasonable picture then that will be made public in due time.”
