After the cost of refurbishing two of the city’s council owned car-parks doubled to a total of £2.1m in September last year, members of the council’s Conservative Cabinet are set to approve nearly another million pounds at the Cabinet meeting on 14th January. This takes the total cost of refurbishing the Lanes Car Park to £2.53 million.

The original plans for a state of the art glass lift have now been abandoned and a  glass elevator is not included in the costs.  

Leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Gill Mitchell, said:
“It would seem that the Conservatives have spent nearly £3 million on little more than a paint job for an underground car park. The costs of the refurbishment have now risen out of all proportion to the original estimate and the Conservative Council is now incurring a 10 year debt to complete this straightforward project. The proposed new, high quality pedestrian access has also been cut from the scheme and all this despite the council making a £7 million pound profit from parking income last year.”

Leader of the Lib Dems, Cllr Paul Elgood, said:
"It was absolutely the right policy to bring the off street car parks back in-house. We want to see the main on street contract brought in-house too as this will make parking enforcement in the city far more accountable. The Conservatives clearly need to be managing the finances of these project far more tightly as overspends are not acceptable when the overall budget is in such difficulty."

For more information about Labour view:
www.brightonhovelabour.com