CIVIC DELAY
A report on the state of Sunderland Civic Centre is still to be made public – more than a year after it was handed to council chiefs.
A survey on the condition of Sunderland City Council’s (SCC) HQ was ordered in November 2016.
The final version was returned to the local authority in May 2017, at a cost of £44,500.
But despite this, the findings of Gleeds, the construction consultancy hired to carry out the work, are still yet to be made public.
In a statement, SCC’s deputy leader Michael Mordey said: “A wide-ranging report on the future of the civic centre is being drawn up.
“This will have information from several surveys and other reports that have been prepared and compiled by the council.
“As part of the council’s decision-making process, this major report will be examined by the city council’s cabinet.”
He added information on the future of the civic centre would be released “in due course”.
A Freedom of Information (FoI) request to SCC revealed the survey had been commissioned in November 2016 and carried out between December 2016– February 2017. Draft findings were delivered to the council in March 2017.
The same FoI claimed the council could not release the report as it “would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of the council’s affairs”.
A separate FoI request for correspondence between the council and Gleeds also included reference to a ‘New Sunderland Civic Building Report’ and a ‘Civic Centre and Car Park Life Cycle Cost Report’.
Responding to the revelations, Coun Robert Oliver, leader of the council’s Conservative opposition, said: “The Civic Centre is a big political issue in Sunderland, but it’s just dragged on for years and years.
“Everyone knows it’s showing its age and doesn’t have as many people in as it used to, and so something has to happen.”
“It’s showing its ag and something has to happen” COUN OLIVER