There was a twist in the tale of the replacement of lift at the Ventnor Botanic Garden (VBG) tonight.
This evening the Overview and Scrutiny Committee included the call-in of the recent delegated decision made by Cllr George Brown to authorise the replacement of the current lift.
Cllr Brown read out a very long statement answering the questions that had been asked by the opposition councillors that had instigated the call-in.
The surprise held in the statement was that Cllr Brown was going to revise his Delegated Decision.
The following is from the relevant section in his statement,
“On 29 October 2010, we received an unsolicited approach from a French company, Poma, offering to repair the existing installation at VGB. The company appears to be experienced in fixing Maspero lifts. Its business includes the maintenance of ski lifts and the Alum Bay chair lift. Poma is not included the procurement-approved list of lift manufacturers and installers from which Property Services provided evidence from the Delegated Decision Report.
“It is plainly desirable to make the existing installation work, even with new running gear, than have to make significant buildings alterations. From this reason, I intend to revise my original Delegated Decision to incorporate re-examining of a lift repair option as its first priority.”
