THE row over St George’s Square is not only rumbling on ... it’s now taken a new twist.
It turns out important the decisions over the huge water feature in the revamped £4m square were not taken by councillors, but by unelected council officials.
And with no clear trail as to how those decisions were made, councillors say the design had changed from the plans put forward for public consultation.
Despite open criticism of the decision-making process by a council scrutiny committee, the same committee then went on to shut the door on the Examiner as it discussed the final cost of the controversial water feature.
It is understood it will be a whopping £50,000-a-year to maintain – which means that will total £1m over the next 20 years if it lasts that long.
The whole sorry saga begs another question.
Just how many other important decisions are being taken by council officials without the rationale behind them being properly recorded?
As taxpayers there should be clarity about how decisions are made – especially any which involve spending large amounts of our money.
Hopefully lessons will be learned from this and policies and procedures tightened up.
For if it happens again, there will be no excuse.
