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Council's £2m sport consultant spend under scrutiny

Clare WordenNorfolk
News imageBBC The outside of the Lynnsport complex. It is a grey brick building with steps leading up to the glass doors.BBC
The revised plans for Lynnsport still have a £40m budget

Questions are being asked as to why consultants were paid £2m to work on a £40m plan to redevelop a town's sports facilities.

The project to refurbish Lynnsport recreation centre, in King's Lynn, and build a new swimming pool inside had to be revised in December after it was found to be unaffordable.

Reform UK councillor Austen Moore raised a concern about the cost of consultants at a full council meeting of King's Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council last week.

It was agreed the spending should be investigated further.

News imageAusten Moore Councillor Austen Moore wears a light blue linen suit and white shirt.Austen Moore
Austen Moore raised a concern after £2m was spent on consultants who came up with a plan which deemed unaffordable

Moore said he was "concerned that significant expenditure was incurred before affordability concerns resulted in the project being halted".

His motion to ask the authority's Corporate Performance Panel (CPP) to investigate the spend was approved unanimously.

Council leader Alistair Beales, from the Independent Partnership, said: "This council is never going to shy away from scrutiny."

The panel has been asked to review the decision-making and governance processes relating to the use of external consultants in the development of the Lynnsport and St James Pool proposal.

They will also look at whether or not the appropriate affordability checks and financial controls were applied at an early stage.

The project to renew leisure facilities and build a new pool continues, but now a separate eight-lane pool is planned - separate to Lynnsport, which will have a more modest renovation.

The existing six-lane pool at St James in King's Lynn has been deemed as becoming too expensive to maintain and heat, so the plan was to build a new one as part of a refurbishment of Lynnsport.

News imageSimon Ring standing in a sports hall. He is wearing a lilac shirt and has grey hair and a beard, and wears glasses.
Simon Ring said the redevelopment of Lynnsport would be carried out in phases to reduce disruption

Simon Ring, deputy leader of the council, denied that plans for Lynnsport were being scaled back.

He said they were listening to those who had taken part in a consultation.

"We will be retaining bowls with a reinvigorated bowls club [and] gymnastics will retain their space," he said.

"And we will be bringing padel - three covered courts - if the LTA supports us."

The council's cabinet will consider the new plans for Lynnsport and the pool at a meeting in March.

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