Royal Parade scheme gets backing at public event

COUNCIL ALSO REVEAL WHY COSTS ROSE TO £7.5MILLION

- By WILLIAM TELFORD

THE cost of Plymouth's delayed Royal Parade Bus Improvement Scheme skyrocketed by £2.5m after a new contractor was brought in, The Herald can reveal.

Work finally starts on the project today - six months after it was originally planned. It will now take nine months to complete, three more than originally expected, and the cost has risen to £7,494,692 from an original “estimated” sum of £5m.

The Herald has been told this is because a new contract had to be signed with construction giant Morgan Sindall.

Originally South West Highways was due to carry out the work to reduce congestion and improve reliability of bus services by increasing the number of bus stops on the shops side of the highway. But this was considered to be a “risk” and the contract went to Morgan Sindall.

The city council, at a recent public information day for the Royal Parade scheme, have said the original time frame and cost was revealed last year when designs were not quite complete.

A spokesperson said the new nine-month programme includes a “terminal float”, a time between the expected completion and the end of the contract and that work may actually finish before the nine months is up.

It was explained that the cost had risen because South West Highways is a maintenance contractor and has a deal with the council under which it gives the authority favourable rates.

But by choosing a new contractor, which explained some of the delay in starting the scheme, it meant the cost had to reflect market pricing and was more expensive.