OPPOSITION members of Thurrock Council have called for an inquiry to be held into the spiralling costs of the authority's A13 widening project.

Yesterday (Monday, 11 May) Thurrock Nub News told how the scheme's cost has increased by around 50 per cent since it got the green light from the ruling Conservative group on the council.

An initial budget was set at £79 million, but it is now set to reach as much as £120 million.

"Outraged at mismanagement'

That has sparked concern from the Labour group on the council, who have been trying to find out more about the overspend since we exclusively broke the story [L] https://thurrock.nub.news/n/30-million-overspend-report-on-a13-widening-project---and-things-could-get-worse-says-whistleblower-close-to-project [.L+]last December that the project was running way over budget. [.L]

Cllr Martin Kerin, the shadow portfolio holder for regeneration, told how his group were 'outraged at the mismanagement of this project, which is unacceptably over budget and seriously delayed.'

He added: "The news of this massive overspend is shocking, to say the least. After many months of pressing for a figure, it is now apparent why the Council prevaricated and delayed at every turn. For a project cost to have risen by £41m in little over a year is simply unacceptable.

"Not only is the figure astronomical, but the project is not expected to be completed until summer 2021. This is a further blow to the people and businesses of Thurrock who use the road to go about their daily business.

"The A13 Widening fiasco is but the latest example of a Council that seems incapable of managing major infrastructure projects. Hardworking Thurrock taxpayers are right to ask who is going to pay for a 50% increase in costs which the project has incurred in the space of little over a year.

"As chair of the planning, transport, regeneration overview & scrutiny committee, I will be calling for an inquiry into the A13 Widening Project. It must have a detailed breakdown of the costs, where the money to make up the shortfall will come from and a detailed timeline of where it all went wrong. Failings of this magnitude must never happen again.

"The people of Thurrock deserve answers. The people of Thurrock deserve so much better than this."

Thurrock Nub News has contacted the council – and portfolio holder for regeneration Cllr Mark Coxshall – offering the opportunity for a detailed explanation of the costs overrun, the reasons why it has happened and any implications. We also offered the opportunity to comment on Labour's reaction.

In order to give them time to prepare such a response we delayed publication of this story until this evening – and gave notice of that deadline. However, we have had no response.