Wolverhampton market move busts council budget by £2.4m
The cost of moving Wolverhampton’s market has almost doubled to £4.9 million – the third major ongoing council scheme to bust its budget.
Work to relocate the market from Market Square to its new Southside site was initially set to cost £2.5m, but city council bosses have confirmed an additional £2.4m will be required to complete the work.
It is the latest financial blow for the cash-strapped authority, which also needs to find an extra £23.2m for renovations to the city’s railway station and the Midland Metro extension.
The revamp of the Civic halls is also expected to incur additional costs, after it emerged the project had been delayed by more than six months.
Wolverhampton council spokesman Oliver Bhurrut said the extra costs for the market move had arisen after the initial designs for the new site were ‘further developed’.
“The market will benefit from increased footfall from the Wulfrun Centre and transport Interchange, as well as being situated in a student catchment area,” he said.
“Since the market relocation scheme was first agreed more detailed conversations have been held with the traders over their needs and the designs have been further developed.
“This has been done to accommodate factors such as the flexibility to trade from bigger cabins, event space, ensuring a secure site with measures in place to combat hostile vehicles while still allowing access for traders to load and unload, CCTV, integrated lighting and power, free WiFi, canopy-covered walkways, offices, customer toilets, and comprehensive parking and storage.
“To ensure we deliver the best market possible on time to fit in with the city centre’s economic and regeneration strategy it means we have had to uplift the budget from early estimates.”
But Conservative councillor Jon Yardley said the authority had questions to answer.
“It is time they were held open to scrutiny and due process to find out the exact causes of the increases in cost to these major developments,” he said.
“Something has clearly gone wrong. They have been profligate in the past with their resources and we now have three projects that all look like they are going above budget.”
