Petition on The Public has 145 names

The petition asks Prime Minister Gordon Brown to launch a public inquiry into every aspect of the arts project in West Bromwich, plagued by delays and overspends.

Those who signed the petition say they are "appalled" at the waste of lottery, central government and Sandwell Council funds, for a building which they say they does not serve the needs of the people of Sandwell.

They are asking the inquiry to address what went wrong and to also prevent similar situations happening in the future.

They are demanding an investigation into how the project was conceived, developed and managed; whether local people were properly consulted; the benefits to local people; the design of the building and its contents and the awarding of all contracts involved in the project.

They also want the inquiry to look at the initial budget, financing and budget overruns and what alternative projects the cash could have been spent on.

Midlands MEP Phil Bradbourn asked the National Audit Commission to investigate the funding of The Public back in September, but was told by auditor general Tim Burr there was no strong case to pursue this.

However, he assured the MEP that the project would be kept under review "in view of the continuing uncertainty over the completion of the building and it achieving its objectives".

Fiona McEvoy, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, who has signed the petition, said: "This is an awful lot of money and people have very strong feelings about it.

"So many millions of pounds of taxpayers' money have been spent on this. We believe it is a waste and that needs to be investigated.

"We need the Government to look closely at the manner in which this project was conducted."

The petition was submitted by Alan Nugent and can be signed at the number10.com website before the deadline of April 3, 2009.

In September 2007 thousands of people signed petitions in shops and businesses across West Bromwich objecting to any more taxpayers' cash being spent on The Public.

The TaxPayers' Alliance launched an on-line petition on the Downing Street website on the back of this, asking the Prime Minister to guarantee publicly that the Government would not allow taxpayers to pay towards the completion of the arts centre.